Pre International Match Preparation of Yore

Time was when we used to meet on a Thursday afternoon in Richmond to train prior to an England RU home nations match. But never until after 4 o’clock on the day  because under the amateur rules of the era no team was allowed to train together over 48 hours before kick off ! I well recall the sessions - perhaps a short game of ‘touch and pass’, an unopposed scrum or two, half a dozen line outs while any new forwards told everyone their preference for standing at the front, middle, or back of them, and a few running and handling movements across the back division. A quick shower, a cup of tea, and back to our hotel to decide which cinema we were going to visit later in the evening.

And, after the match at Twickenham, win, lose,or draw, the  social highlight of the weekend, the  Banquet for both teams and a couple of hundred guests. Being at that time a penniless student at Leeds University and more accustomed, on a Saturday night, to a bag of chips topped with mushy peas, bought from Betty’s Chippy in Headingley, the meal at the Mayfair Hotel in London proved a much better option. All very relaxing compared to the modern player’s preparations under England’s current coach, Eddie Jones.

Considering the number of players unavailable for England’s first match of the autumn international series, thanks to the ferocity of the coach’s demanding daily physical sessions, preparations for ‘battle’ would appear to be somewhat different to those of my playing days. We never had a coach, never mind such activity for a week or two before kick off!

Judo coaches brought into camp to teach players the skills of grappling and using their body weight on the ground, a former Aussie rugby league player hired to ‘ provide a harder edge to the defence’ and a couple of weeks in camp in Sunny Portugal. Such are a few of the innovations now available to any future England squad member.

A different game? The difference between professionalism and amateurism? The advancement in sports sciences? Perhaps. But I do know that the likes of Dickie Jeeps, Bev Risman, Richard Sharp,Derek Morgan, Ron Jacobs, Peter Jackson, David Marques and company would, like me, have relished the chance to challenge Eddie Jones’ selections of today. But only perhaps after undergoing a twelve months physically intensive training course with him!

Ray French 18.11.2016