RWC 2015 - build-up thread

stephen_n

That would be a serious blow for the Aussies.

total former

Being reported as minor surgery and Cheika is "confident" he'll be back before the end of the RC.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

How do we feel about the fact Ireland seem to just be preparing as normal for the World Cup while the likes of Wales and England are doing these high altitude and extreme heat training and by all accounts are killing themselves with their sessions?

I'm no expert but it feels like overkill on their part? Maybe?

smiley_face

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

How do we feel about the fact Ireland seem to just be preparing as normal for the World Cup while the likes of Wales and England are doing these high altitude and extreme heat training and by all accounts are killing themselves with their sessions?

I'm no expert but it feels like overkill on their part? Maybe?

I reckon that's going to give them a mental edge, in that they'll think they deserve to win more than their opponents after putting themselves through a grueling schedule, but whether it makes them physically stronger or fitter I don't know. Any advantage physically is probably negligible. The summer tests will be more than enough for our players to get match fit I'd say. No worries. All we need to do is get our own focus right and get mentally tough as a team over the next few matches.

kuang1

I'm actually encouraged by how relatively low key our prep is. No song and dance or travelling halfway round the world to have a rare breed of ant eat pesto off your nether regions...

in Joe we trust.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

smiley_face wrote: »

I reckon that's going to give them a mental edge, in that they'll think they deserve to win more than their opponents after putting themselves through a grueling schedule, but whether it makes them physically stronger or fitter I don't know. Any advantage physically is probably negligible. The summer tests will be more than enough for our players to get match fit I'd say. No worries. All we need to do is get our own focus right and get mentally tough as a team over the next few matches.

I would have thought coming off the back of a full season most players at this level should be fit enough. Like you say, they'll need some game time, which the upcoming tests will provide, but the extreme workouts seem risky to me. I suppose given the group England and Wales are in they maybe need a little extra to get them over the line there.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

kuang1 wrote: »

I'm actually encouraged by how relatively low key our prep is. No song and dance or travelling halfway round the world to have a rare breed of ant eat pesto off your nether regions...

in Joe we trust.

Funny you should mention "song and dance". Have you seen the "Wear The Rose Send Off" nonsense they're doing for England? I'm not sure where they're sending them off to, to be honest.

pickarooney

We should have the lot of them out stacking hay bales instead of wasting time and money on that altitude ****e. The tournament is in England, FFS.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

pickarooney wrote: »

We should have the lot of them out stacking hay bales instead of wasting time and money on that altitude ****e. The tournament is in England, FFS.

I assumed the high altitude and extreme heat stuff is more to increase the intensity of the workouts, or whatever the technical term for that is. It's like doing a double workout, almost?

.ak

George North said it's been gruelling because of the heat. He says at times he's completely lost it and has seen Gremlins on his runs...


... I wonder how much he's recovered from those knocks exactly...

pickarooney

But because of the heat and altitude you just end up doing less and getting tired quicker. I don't get the logic of it.

pickarooney

.ak wrote: »

George North said it's been gruelling because of the heat. He says at times he's completely lost it and has seen Gremlins on his runs...


... I wonder how much he's recovered from those knocks exactly...

Like he ducked out of a jog and went to the cinema?

kuang1

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Funny you should mention "song and dance". Have you seen the "Wear The Rose Send Off" nonsense they're doing for England? I'm not sure where they're sending them off to, to be honest.

Haven't seen that but does sound amusing!
And I definitely cracked a smile when I saw the ad for...whatever the fuk it was...where the English players are being carried around on peoples shoulders...major cringe. (And you can see it in some of the players faces too...not happy campers!)

.ak

pickarooney wrote: »

But because of the heat and altitude you just end up doing less and getting tired quicker. I don't get the logic of it.

Well your targets wouldn't change, so you're going to force through the body to go through with it, muscle endurance for one will probably improve, so will recovery times.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

kuang1 wrote: »

Haven't seen that but does sound amusing!
And I definitely cracked a smile when I saw the ad for...whatever the fuk it was...where the English players are being carried around on peoples shoulders...major cringe. (And you can see it in some of the players faces too...not happy campers!)

Yeah it's the same thing. The public have them on their shoulders to #CarryThemHome.



Between this, the official single version of Swing Low and the rules for Social Media that they've been given it's all getting off to a fairly embarrassing start for them.

I suppose it's an attempt to get the whole country behind the World Cup in general but are those who don't normally follow rugby likely to be swayed by any of this? It's not like they're New Zealand where the entire country is built around rugby, almost.

pickarooney

Have you seen the people who live at high altitudes though? Midgets, the lot of them. I'd love to read the science behind training big men high up.

irishbucsfan

pickarooney wrote: »

Have you seen the people who live at high altitudes though? Midgets, the lot of them. I'd love to read the science behind training big men high up.

Well as far as I'm aware the point is to force your body to increase it's capacity for carrying oxygen in your bloodstream. It's not about the actual physical gains you make while you're there, it's about the chemical changes it induces that help you when you come down. Mind you, the closest I get to high altitude training at the moment is going up and down the stairs.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Well as far as I'm aware the point is to force your body to increase it's capacity for carrying oxygen in your bloodstream. It's not about the actual physical gains you make while you're there, it's about the chemical changes it induces that help you when you come down. Mind you, the closest I get to high altitude training at the moment is going up and down the stairs.

This would imply that players who usually play at high altitude are at an advantage coming down to low altitude?

razorblunt

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Well as far as I'm aware the point is to force your body to increase it's capacity for carrying oxygen in your bloodstream. It's not about the actual physical gains you make while you're there, it's about the chemical changes it induces that help you when you come down. Mind you, the closest I get to high altitude training at the moment is going up and down the stairs.

Yes, I think it was Neil Francis who said during RWC 1995 the Irish team were up there for the few days before the French QF, they came down to sea level 2 days before the game and smashed the training session the next day. He reckoned staying up there a day later may have helped them.

That O2 England ad is so horrible, they're like fairgrade balloons on the shoulders, awful guff altogether. Credit to Marler though he looks like he embraced it.

irishbucsfan

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

This would imply that players who usually play at high altitude are at an advantage coming down to low altitude?

Yes it would, although the extent of the benefit I have no idea. You have to go pretty high though, the only professional side I know at that kind of altitude would be the Bulls.

Rattlehead_ie

That pic is bloody disturbing

kuang1

Rattlehead_ie wrote: »

That pic is bloody disturbing

It's definitely homoerotica at it's finest!

jacothelad

pickarooney wrote: »

Have you seen the people who live at high altitudes though? Midgets, the lot of them. I'd love to read the science behind training big men high up.

The body adapts to high altitude / low oxygen zones by increasing the number of red blood cells. It can therefore make more efficient use of limited oxygen. At sea level, after a longish stint (weeks) at altitude there may be a benefit to SOME athletes such as distance runners and this lasts between one and 3 weeks by which time the body has recycled the extra cells and reverts to the normal level. It isn't a magic training method. I doubt if someone like Mike Ross would get much benefit as he walks everywhere any way.

pickarooney

It's far too early to be doing that now surely for a tournament in the Autumn. As for team from high altitudes having an advantage in the lowlands... Compare Bolivia's football results home and away.

Podge_irl

That would have far more to do with opposition teams suffering badly at altitude. Whatever advantage they would get from the high altitude training/living would be far less than the disadvantage faced by teams unused to it playing at such altitude.

Having trained at 2000m+ all I can say is that it's something you need to do for a couple of weeks to really see any benefit. The biggest thing I noticed initially was runs where my HR would normally have been around 120 - 130 I was hitting 160+!

Bogwoppit

Can anyone tell me which channel the warm up games will be on?

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Bogwoppit wrote: »

Can anyone tell me which channel the warm up games will be on?

Sky, I think, or they have some of them anyway.

total former

Bogwoppit wrote: »

Can anyone tell me which channel the warm up games will be on?

The home games and the match v England are on Sky. The game in Wales is on BBC Wales, no confirmation of Irish rights yet.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Wales v Ireland this weekend isn't on anywhere except BBC Wales. Think you can get it on Sky under other channels. BBC Wales streams Pro 12 matches online so hopefully they'll stream this too.