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Sale sound out their football neighbours in left-field attempt to gain Premiership restart cutting edge
Sale Sharks have been tapping into Manchester City’s experience of dealing with rapid turnarounds between matches as they prepare for a return to Gallagher Premiership action that involves playing three rounds of midweek fixtures.
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The heavy workload is needed to complete the remaining nine rounds of matches in the 2019/20 season as the clubs clear the backlog of fixtures caused by the Covid-19 lockdown. It will push players to physical and mental extremes – although there will be limits to the number of minutes individuals can play.
To prepare for this unprecedented challenge, Steve Diamond, the Sale director of rugby, has been discussing managing player workloads with the Manchester City football staff and has also taken advice from Preston North End and Stockport County. Sale and Manchester City have close ties, with the Premiership rugby club now using the former Premier League champions’ old training complex at Carrington.
John Kirkpatrick, Sale’s head of strength and conditioning and a former professional rugby league player, has been masterminding the return to play protocols for the club’s high-profile squad ahead of a league campaign that resumes with them in second place behind Exeter Chiefs.
The work that Kirkpatrick’s team has been undertaking will be tested on August 14 when Sale travel to Harlequins for the game that will signal the restart of the Premiership season. Matches against Exeter, Wasps and Bristol will then follow over the next 15 days.
Just 3?? weeks to go and we're BACKKKK #SharksFamily ? pic.twitter.com/uoeUBv1KPd
— Sale Sharks? (@SaleSharksRugby) July 28, 2020
While the Sale players – like every other Premiership squad – were given individual training regimes to follow during the lockdown, many of the players returned up to six kilograms lighter. There were two players who returned to Carrington for testing who were “four to five kilos” heavier. It will come as no surprise to discover that the two in question were the highly competitive twins, Tom and Ben Curry, who patently loved weight training against each other.
Fitzpatrick has overseen the return to fighting weight of the rest of the forwards and while the players have been allowed a lighter week, things will ramp up again on Monday in preparation for that opening game against Quins. He told RugbyPass: “We have chatted to quite a few football clubs about what they did with a congested fixture list and it is a case of recovering as best you can, squad rotation and managing the minutes they play.
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“Steve is in touch with Manchester City quite a lot, and also Stockport and Preston North End. They are in the business of turning guys around after two or three days and while it is a different sport, there is a lot to learn about how they look after their players.
“One of the key things in this block of work has been running a full squad, going through all the drills, making sure they are up to speed with all the calls. We are going to have to rely on the full squad and some of the academy guys will get game time. We are not used to that amount of games in a week and normally it comes down to what you have done in a normal pre-season. This has been a more condensed pre-season and we have prepared the boys really well over the last six or seven weeks.
“When the boys were in lockdown training at home was their priority and when we got them back in they were in pretty good aerobic condition which allowed us to move on to position-specific conditioning with the backs and back rowers running high-velocity speeds and working on more conditioning stuff with the front rowers.
“We conditioned hard for four weeks and then for three weeks we have conditioned on pads and drills. We found that a number of guys had lost a fair bit of weight during the lockdown, up to six or seven kilos because the lads were used to four weights sessions in a high-performance gym but then had to rely on weight circuits at home.
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“We use GPS to measure metres per minute within drills to replicate worse case scenarios in games. We try and get those drills as specific as possible and so when they are in those frantic periods in games they are able to cope, make decisions and execute skills under that fatigue. We are looking at backs moving at a pace which means that when they go into games it doesn’t catch them out and they can cope with it.”
For Sale’s 2019 World Cup winners Faf de Klerk and Lood de Jager – plus Tom Curry who was in the England team that lost the final to South Africa – the break from rugby action has been a real bonus with all three raring to go, according to Fitzpatrick. “Across the board, the guys came back in great shape. I do believe the three guys have benefitted from downing tools both mentally and physically. You can see with the three that they are rejuvenated.
“Tom and Ben Curry were the two who came back in having put on four or five kilos of muscle and they are naturally fit lads who had a chance to focus on gym work. Any conditioning we do with Tom and Ben there are so many arguments about who got there first.
“It is great because they are constantly pushing each other. Tom has done amazing things and Ben has been one of our best players and this is going to be a really big season for him. In training, there is nothing between them.”
While the rest of the sport struggles to tell the difference between the identical Curry twins, Fitzpatrick has no trouble working it out having been around the boys since they were 17-years-old.” To me they don’t seem similar, they have different personalities and I can even tell them apart from behind,” he added.
Breathtaking riposte https://t.co/1upJrM9GRV
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) July 29, 2020
Comments on RugbyPass
I always enjoy a good scrum based article. Thanks, Nick. The Hurricanes are looking more and more the team to beat down here in Australasia. They are a very well balanced team. And though there are far fewer scrums in the game these days, destructive power in that area is a serious weapon, especially an attacking scrum within in the red zone. Aumua looked very good as a young first year player, but then seemed to fade. He sure is back now right in the picture for the AB’s. And I would judge that Taukei’aho is in a bit of a slump currently. Watching him at Suncorp a few weeks ago, I thought he was not as dominant in the game as I would have expected. I am going to raise an issue in that scrum at around the 13 min mark. I see a high level of danger there for the TH lifted off the ground. He is trapped between the opposition LH and his own powerful SR. His neck is being put under potentially dangerous pressure. The LH has, in law , no right to use his superior scrummaging skill….getting his head right in on the breastbone of the TH…..to force him up and off the ground. Had the TH popped out of the scrum, head up and free, there is no danger, that is a clear penalty to the dominant scrum. The law is quite clear on this issue: Law 37 Dangerous play and restricted practices in a scrum. C:Intentionally lifting an opponent off their feet or forcing them upwards out of the scrum. Sanction: Penalty. Few ,if any, referees seem to be aware of this law, and/or the dangers of the situation. Matthew Carly, refereeing Clermont v Munster in 2021, penalised the Munster scrum, when LH Wycherly was lifted very high, and in my view very dangerously, by TH Slimani. Lifting was coached in the late ‘60’s/70’s. Both Lions props, Ray McLouglin, and “Mighty Mouse” McLauchlan, were expert and highly successful at this technique. I have seen a photo, which I can’t find online atm, of MM with a NZ TH(not an AB) on his head, MM standing upright as the scrum disintegrates.
3 Go to commentsHey. Stay home and play for Mooloo.
1 Go to commentsTighthead was always going to be our weakness this year with Ryan going home to Ireland and the Cashed Up Blues taking a third All Black prop from us - nobody else in SR does that. Numia is the exciting one. He used to be a lightweight but he's really improved. Do you have stats on the All Black hookers’ lineouts for the game? I seem to remember a few misses.
3 Go to commentsFergus Burke isn't tier 1 player quality…but guess what, he'll be playing amongst them for Saracens…. all going well and Steve Borthwick is still the head coach, England...Scott Robertson’s hint of amending NZRU’s offshore AB eligibility clause, would mean that players like Josh Moorby who show potential might get a call…
4 Go to commentsThe movement of quality players back to SA is remarkable.
2 Go to commentsInteresting article, Nic. Am enjoying seeing the Rebels doing well, partly just to spite those who are working to wipe them off the face of the Australian rugby planet. But it is also good to see a team with somany good players beginning fire. LSL has benefitted so much from his move up to Northampton for the one year. I wonder why he did not stay on for another year. Does he now looks north and see his teammates of last year now doing so well, and have some regrets.
44 Go to comments“Over 80% of the World Cup squad are over 30” No it isn’t lol
2 Go to commentsTyrel Lomax the best AB prop since Carl Hayman. Absolutely destroyed the Boks in RWC Final and is monstering allcomers in Super this season. Should be a monster battle vs touring Poms, always deliver a power pack.
3 Go to commentsEye gouging seems like such a strong term for what can only be described as a poke in the eye. When I think of eye gouging I think of someone trying to intentionally pop someone’s eyeball out. it’s like calling a high-tackle attempted decapitation.
3 Go to commentsGreat article. No insights to add, just wanted to say that. :)
1 Go to commentsLeinster are going to win the world cup.
13 Go to commentsSuper Rugby desperately needs to lose at least 2, but up to 4 teams. Rebels quietly going bankrupt would have made that a bit easier. Teams like the Rebels and Force serve only to weaken Australian Rugby and Super Rugby more widely. In 13 years in the comp the Rebels are yet to win more games than they lose in a season, have never finished in the top half of the competition, and have come dead last a number of times. The Western Force, barring a brief stint of mediocrity under John Mitchell from 2007-2009 have been even worse. Sadly it’s hard to see a future for Moana Pasifika in Super Rugby. Likewise I think the writing is on the wall for the Highlanders, it’s hard to see how NZ rugby can continue to support 5 SR teams, and population distribution suggests one team in the south island would make the most sense.
44 Go to commentsNice that Connor Evans is happy to stay on here, that JD Schikerling is returning and Steven Kitshoff. Dobbo is careful to bring back just anybody but having a new financial lease of life, it has made the Stormers a more attractive club. On top of being good quality, having the financial backing helps a lot
1 Go to commentsEngland-qualified too, I believe.
1 Go to commentsThis might turn out to be emblematic of a real issue in Irish rugby. Ireland have one of the best -if not the best - senior sides in the world, and one of the best under 20s sides as well, but don’t seem to be giving graduating under20s players many opportunities to break through into URC starting lineups. There is a risk that a lot of the junior talent they are developing will either be wasted, or lost to other nations.
1 Go to commentsYou ask good questions, Nick. The group who have put together the proposal to play out of Tarneit and participate in the growing of the ground’s capacity are not a bunch of white knights who have been dragged in post-crisis; they were around whilst the Rebels accummulated $23m in debt. Why do we come up with ideas that might make the franchise affordable after it’s broke and not when it might have prevented the trainwreck this offseason was? As for Gordon/Kellaway v Lolesio/Wright, they are both good options. I think the former are better rugby players but the goal kicking of Noah may be decisive when Schmiddy makes his choices. I know Harry Jones has the hots for Edmed but I think it’s one of his few poor choices and he and Jorgensen aren’t close to the other pairs. By coincidence, the wife and I went into town over the weekend to watch Brian Cox and Patricia Clarkson in Long Day’s Journey into Night. Beautifully acted but it was 3.5 hours in the chair and very hard work. Like the Rebels, there were only small bursts of joy to go with a lot of bad news and a depressing story line. In the end, I was hoping it would end and I could give my sore butt a break. Again, familiar.
44 Go to commentsGood decision, very good player but not international quality. But so was Jamison Gibson Park …..
4 Go to commentsLoose forwards always look good going forward and winning. It’s the same loose forwards for the Crusaders and the Canes this year as last year. Too much of the shiny new things getting noticed here while older consistent ones getting bagged. It’s early days. Calm the farm.
8 Go to commentsThanks Nick, and on the money. We tend to be apathetic until something REALLY BAD happens, then we aren't! At least this applies to the Reb players and coach, if not the spectators. They seem to be getting very quick ball at times. Have they altered something, or is it just all of the skills coming together at the right time? It seems almost the opposite of the Reds, who started the season with quick ball, but haven't been showing that in the last 3 losing games. Is it attitude (McDermott hasn't looked “right” to me for 3 weeks), or something else?
44 Go to commentsGood summary. As said, Sevu Reece has been electrifying for the Crusaders. Great try and he has been everywhere. Amazing he is now equal with Caleb Ralph , club record of 52 tries for the Crusaders. That record beckons. Good to see Dallas McLeod getting regular starts at last. A big few weeks are ahead.
8 Go to comments