teams and we won’t find that out until the games get underway.
M&F: How will your role with the squad change once you are in New Zealand? NP: It goes from trying to build physical attributes to maintaining them and working on recovery aspects. I become more of an assistant coach to Andy Robinson in that we work together a lot on the parameters for different types of sessions and training week structures, such as how much pitch work they should do, when it should be done and what recovery strategies we need to employ.
M&F: How long will it take players to recover from this tournament? NP: It’s hard to say because it depends on how you manage them through that period. The key thing within rugby is our understanding of the training process. Rugby has a long competition window relative to its preparation period. Therefore, you can’t take a traditional view of having a pre-season then just backing off and playing games because key attributes, such as strength, detrain and are lost very quickly. You have to create recovery and development opportunities within the season if you are to keep progressing—it’s a huge challenge. Most players will need at least one week off just to get over the travel if nothing else, before re-establishing a base while playing for their clubs.
M&F: After this tournament ends when will you next see the players? NP: At the end of January 2012. However,
Allan Jacobsen with Head Coach Andy Robinson
we are fortunate in Scotland that the pro teams, Edinburgh and Glasgow Warriors, and the national squad have a close relationship and are part of the same organisation. The clubs still have their own identity but we have an understand- ing that this is about the player and if you try to pull at both ends the player breaks down. We work hard to try and ensure the player is trained and managed in a manner that allows them to meet the demands of the different levels of tournaments within their season.
INTERVIEW WITH SQUAD PLAYERS SEAN LAMONT AND ROSS FORD MF: What was the team’s mood after playing well but finishing fifth in the Six Nations? SEAN LAMONT: Disappointment. I came into the Six Nations thinking that this could be our year. We had a good autumn but we may have got a little bit complacent. I think all of the tries scored against us, or certainly a high
percentage of them, started when we had the ball. You cannot get away with silly little errors.
MF: What has been the main area of concern building up for the World Cup? SL: The error count and turnovers. France scored against us two phases off a turnover and that is criminal. Turning over ball is a big deal, as ball retention is a big thing for us. Our performance got better as our error count went down and that is the be-all and end-all of it.
M&F: Thanks to an agreement between Scottish Rugby and the Scottish clubs certain players were withdrawn two weeks before the end of the Magners League season to prepare for the challenges ahead. Ross, you were one of these players—how have you been using the time? ROSS FORD: Basically just freshening up. I had had a lot of game time and I took the advice from our medical and fitness
Ross Ford squatting
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