Tuesday, December 29, 2009 Previous editions
Thursday, October 29, 2009
THE IRFU’s former fitness and conditioning coach Mike McGurn has blasted rugby’s obsession with bulking up and claimed that academy systems were producing ‘robots’ who ‘have no game management skills.’
McGurn is fearful that if the trend is allowed to go unchecked the sport will develop into "a game of gridiron where they keep bashing it up".
Lions doctor, James Robson, expressed fears earlier this year that the trend of muscle-building would lead to a continuing increase of major injuries in the game while England boss Martin Johnson has been forced to make sweeping changes to his squad for the autumn internationals due to an injury crisis.
McGurn, speaking at the launch of a new brand of nutritional products by Kinetica Sports Ltd in Dublin yesterday, said sweeping changes need to be made if the basic skills of rugby are to be saved.
He said: "A lot of players are spending too much time on conditioning rather than with the ball.
"Rather than heading for the space or putting a guy into space they’ll try and run through you and that’s why they are getting hurt.
"It’s going to go full circle soon to where the most skilful player will win whereas at the minute the most powerful is winning, as the Springboks have shown.
"The advantage they have on us is that they are born that way naturally so they can handle the weight. We’ve got guys who can’t handle their weight and that’s why they get injured.
"If you put on too much weight, your ligaments can’t handle it and that’s where the risk of injury is."
If changes aren’t made McGurn warned: "it’s going to be a game of gridiron where they keep bashing it up".
The academies have a significant role in providing the coaches at international level with more skilled players according to McGurn.
He hailed the emphasis Warren Gatland has placed on skill at Wales and is hopeful that this approach will be followed by other teams.
"The academies are producing players who can lift weights and run all day.
"But they can’t catch and pass, or run good lines or put someone through a gap.
"In other countries like New Zealand, South Africa and Wales they are focussing on the skills, skills first. Some of the academies have robots but have no game management skills.
"Where are the next Brian O’Driscolls, Ronan O’Garas or Gordon D’Arcys going to come from? I don’t know.
"What you got to do is take away the decision-making from people who sit behind a desk and aren’t at the coalface. They are making decisions about what Irish rugby does.
"They are never at the sessions to see that this guy can’t pass of his left hand, can’t step off his left foot, or tackle with his left shoulder… It’s a worry.
"You have to let the coaches make the decisions."
McGurn was speaking at the launch of a new brand of nutritional products by Kinetica Sports Ltd.
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