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'I've had two players come to me in the last two days saying they want to play every game'
Exeter boss Rob Baxter believes “an element of club management” is crucial as initiatives were outlined to protect player welfare in England for this season and next. The 2019/20 Gallagher Premiership season restarted last Friday after being halted in early March because of the coronavirus pandemic.
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Clubs face a packed programme of nine league games in 52 days, including midweek fixtures, while some also have European knockout matches and could be involved in October’s domestic play-offs and final.
English rugby’s professional game board announced that for the current Premiership campaign, no player can feature in more than 180 minutes if selected in the matchday 23 on three occasions in a week, and no player can start three games in the space of a week.
Between August 14 and September 13, a player cannot be selected in more than six matches and a player’s training load will be managed if they are in three matchday squads during a seven-day period.
Clubs will give players three weeks off at the end of the Premiership season, but those in the play-off final will only be able to offer their squad a two-and-a-half-week break and also have just one and a half weeks to prepare for round one of the 2020/21 campaign.
Peace in our time hopefully regarding the heavy English workload https://t.co/EQySTxQfJY
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) August 18, 2020
England players, meanwhile, will be given a one-week break after the delayed Six Nations game against Italy on October 31, and a further fortnight off in December following four weekends of Test matches.
The 2020/21 campaign starts on November 20, just four weeks after this season’s Premiership final, and will not conclude until June 26. Speaking about the initiatives, Exeter rugby director Baxter said: “The key to all this is that there has to be an element of club management allowed.
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“Too many hard and fast rules and clubs will always be asking for exceptional circumstances. It doesn’t take a genius to work out that if you have injuries in a couple of specialist positions, any planning about maximum minutes or games can go right out of the window.
“You will be spending every waking minute asking for exceptional circumstances for players to play. Give clubs a little bit of autonomy. This is an incredibly different season.
“Most directors of rugby would have no difficulty agreeing some principles and being asked quite forcibly why those have not been adhered to rather than being given hard and fast rules. Things are so changeable.
“I’ve also had two players come to me in the last two days saying they want to play every game. Midweek, whatever. It’s nice to hear players say they want to play, but I told them they weren’t going to.
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“But we’ve got other guys who start to wonder at the mere mention of two games next week. We have to deal with that as well. That’s why it has got to be player by player, individual load by load. Some players, if they play two games in a week rather than one, will actually have a reduced training load.”
“Another incentive was cash… when you’re on 25 grand in the Championship, that [Rob Baxter's half-time bonus] becomes a big, big deal”
– @philldollman and @tomajohnson06 re-live the night of @ExeterChiefs promotion 10 years ago with @OwainJTJones ???https://t.co/hQBKsyustC
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) May 26, 2020
Comments on RugbyPass
Thanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
4 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
4 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
25 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
13 Go to commentsTalking bout Ryan Crotty? Heard Crotty say in a interview once that SBW doesen't care about the team . He went on to say that whenever they lost a big game, SBW would be happy as if nothing happened, according to him someone who cares would look down.. Personally I think Crotty is in the wrong, not for feeling gutted but for expecting others 2 be like him… I have been a bad loser forever as it matters so much to me but good on you SBW for being able to see the bigger picture….
25 Go to commentsThis sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
13 Go to commentsThe rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
84 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
2 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
4 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
13 Go to comments9 Brumbies! What a joke! The best performing team in Oz! Ditch Skelton for Swain or Neville. Ryan Lonergan ahead of McDermott any day! Best selection bolter is Toole … amazing player
12 Go to commentsI like this, but ultimately rugby already has enough trophies. Trying to make more games “consequential" might prove to be a fools errand, although this is a less bad idea than some others. Minor quibble with the title of the article; it isn’t very meaningful to say the boks are the unofficial world champions when it would be functionally impossible for the Raeburn trophy not to be held by the world champions. There’s a period of a few months every 4 years when there is no “unofficial” world champion, and the Raeburn trophy is held by the actual world champions.
13 Go to commentsIts a great idea but one that I dont think will have a lot of traction. It will depend on the prestige that they each hold but if you can do that it would be great. When Japan beat the Boks (my team) I was absolutely devestated but I wont deny the great game they played that day. We were outclassed and it was one of the best games of rugby I have seen. Using an idea like this you might just give the the underdog teams more of an opportunity to beat the big teams and I can absolutely see it being a brilliant display of rugby. They beat us because they planned for that game. It was a great moment for Japan. This way we can remove the 4 year wait and give teams something to aim for outside of World Cup years.
13 Go to commentsHi, Dave here. Happy to answer questions 🥰
13 Go to commentsDon’t think that headline is accurate. It’s great to see Aus doing better but I’m not sure they’ve shown much threat to the top of the table. They shouldn’t be inflating wins against the lousy Highlanders and Crusaders either.
3 Go to commentsSuch a shame Roigard and Aumua picked up long term injuries, probably the two form players in the comp. Also, pretty sure Clarke Dermody isn’t their coach. Got it half right though.
3 Go to commentsOh the Aussie media, they never learn. At least Andrew Kellaway is like “Woah, yeah it’s great, but settle down there guys” having endured years of the Aussie media, fans, and often their players getting ahead of themselves only to fall flat on their faces. Have the “We'll win the Bledisloe for sure this year!” headlines started yet? It’s simple to see what’s going on. The Aussie teams are settled, they didn't lose any of their major players overseas. The Crusaders and Chiefs lost key experienced All Blacks, and Razor in the Crusaders case, and clearly neither are anywhere near as strong as last year (The Canes and Blues would probably be 3rd & 4th if they were). The Highlanders are annually average, even more so post-Aaron Smith and a big squad clean out. The two teams at the top? The two nz sides with largely the same settled roster as last year, except Ardie Savea for the Canes. They’ve both got far better coaches now too. If the Aussies are going to win the title, this is the year the kiwi sides will be weakest, so they better take their chance.
3 Go to commentsThe World Cup has to be the gold standard, line in the sand. 113 teams compete for what is the opportunity to make the pool stages, and then the knockout games for the trophy. The concept is sound. This must have been the rationale when the World Cup was created, surely? But I’m all for Looking forward and finding new ways for the SH to dominate the NH into the future. The autumn series needs a change up. Let’s start by having the NH teams come south every odd year for the Autumn/Spring series games?
13 Go to commentsWhat’ll happen when the AI models of the future go back in time and try to destroy the AI models of the past standing in their way of certain victory?
45 Go to comments