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Austerberry on managing player load: 'Sometimes the right place isn't on the rugby field'
By Lucy Lomax
Saracens Women face a tough task this weekend in round 7 of the PWR– Exeter Chiefs away. The Devon based side are chasing the north Londoners down in the table in third and second, with 22 and 25 points respectively.
However, given the way Alex Austerberry’s side have held themselves in the past six rounds (recording five wins on the bounce), you wouldn’t put it past them to prance away from Sandy Park with a win and a bonus point, so much is their confidence and unity of late.
With hundreds of PWR players involved in the recently concluded Rugby World Cup, many teams are still managing player load both physically and mentally and one could argue the teams which do it the best, are the teams currently thriving in the league.
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Saracens in one such team, with head coach Austerberry heavily involved in the World Cup campaign as assistant coach with Canada.
The women’s director of rugby understands the come down after the tournament and the necessity to ensure players are getting the attention they deserve when it comes to having open conversations, monitoring and checking in on general well-being as focus returned to the PWR after the intensity of the tournament.
To put into perspective how much of an important task this has been for Saracens- 10 of last weekend’s starting XV against Loughborough were involved for either England or Canada at the World Cup, with their respective teams going the full distance to the final on 27th September.
Given the PWR only started three weeks later, Austerberry admits it’s an ongoing process of listening and adapting. When asked how he has dealt with the management of his players coming back from the tournament he gives an honest reply:
“I don’t think (the situation) is necessarily dealt with, those conversations are ongoing. You know, you’re not just talking about resetting, even a couple of months after the World Cup, you’re looking at the next cycle, and asking, what are the players’ aims, what are their goals, and objectives on the field, and off the field?
“In the short term, it was making sure we were connected as a team and on a personal level before coming back into the environment.
“We’ve had a fair few World Cup cycles now with my involvement at the club, and some people come back on incredible highs, some people, you think they should be on an incredible high, but they’ve not necessarily had the exposure in terms of minutes that they wanted to. So it’s about just checking in with them and finding out when the best time to engage is.
“They might need a bit of additional time here and there. So it’s very much individualised to the player.”
With coaching about so much more than technical and tactical drills on the field, the large majority of Austerberry’s role is spent emotionally managing his players with data only able to tell you so much about a player’s situation and never where they might be mentally.
“Managing load is a weekly and daily conversation, but the power of just speaking with people. Data tells you one thing, but people can tell you something different, and sometimes we’ve got to make sure that we’re really tuned into to what they’re saying and helping through that.
“It’s just understanding where the people are at, give them the time, the space, and then understanding that that might change the next week you speak with them. Some people get straight back on the horse and are happy or uncertainty might take a few months to come in so it’s not just an isolated conversation.
“And it’s not just people returning from World Cup. Everyone’s got their own challenges and their own lives away from rugby that they’ve got to balance as well. So I think it’s a continual process.”
Given the demands of the season on the pitch and off it commercially, Austerberry is well aware of the need to keep abreast of all his players are asked to do as the league gets more and more visibility.
“It’s getting more and more intense, isn’t it? There’s more expected of players, there’s more and more exposure to them. So it is a case of making sure that we manage them. That’s something we prioritise, and always have prioritised. If everyone takes a pound of flesh from someone there’s not much left, is there?
PWR
P
W
L
D
PF
PA
PD
BP T
BP-7
BP
Total
1
Gloucester-Hartpury Women RFC
6
6
0
0
30
2
Saracens Women
6
5
1
0
25
3
Exeter Chiefs Women
6
3
1
2
22
4
Loughborough Lightning
5
2
2
1
13
5
Harlequins Women
5
2
3
0
13
6
Trailfinders Women
5
2
3
0
12
7
Sale Sharks Women
5
1
3
1
11
8
Bristol Bears Women
5
1
4
0
5
9
Leicester Tigers Women
5
0
5
0
1
“It’s been a very tricky period, we’ve played six Cup games and then eight league games. That’s a lot of rugby, a high degree of volume, so it’s making sure that we get people in the right place and sometimes the right place isn’t on the rugby field. Some need to take a bit of time or have that surgery now.
“It might hurt us in the short term not having them available, but it’s what’s right for the player, and then we can get them at the back end of the season, fit and firing and ready to go.”
With an attitude like this it’s no wonder Saracens are leading the chasing pack behind Gloucester-Hartpury in the race to the play-offs. And who knows, this approach may mean black and red are the colours of the 2025/26 season.
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