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Wallabies begin tracking player intensity during Tests
Greg Growden
August 29, 2010
PRETORIA: For those who believe top-line rugby players just lumber around the field from lineout to scrum and can get away with the occasional push-up to keep themselves in shape, they had better think again.
The Wallabies have begun using a GPS tracking system in Test matches that shows the leading players cover as many metres and play with the same intensity as those involved in a high-level rugby league match, such as an NRL semi-final. Peter Harding, the Wallabies strength and conditioning coach who has worked in all four football codes in Australia, is using the system to ensure the players train wisely and are properly prepared for matches.
While the GPS unit that tracks a player's every movement has been used at Wallabies training for the past two seasons, it made its first appearance in an Australian Test match in Christchurch three weeks ago when nine players had it inserted in a small pouch on the back of their jerseys.
The GPS tracks how many metres players cover during a match, how fast they go, how hard they are working, as well as providing agility and acceleration scores. It also provides a player's heart rate throughout the Test and even shows if he favours a certain leg when he tires. So now the lazy player has nowhere to hide.
As Harding put it: ''We can see exactly what they are doing.''
From the Christchurch Test, it showed the players ran about eight kilometres, of which about one kilometre was at full sprint.
Harding said rugby league players covered seven to 10 kilometres during a match. Football and AFL players covered more ground.
Harding showed the Sun-Herald a diagram of where Wallaby back-rower David Pocock went on the field. It resembled a Jackson Pollock painting with lines going in all directions. But it proved Pocock worked at a high intensity and basically covered every metre of the ground. It also showed that his heart rate at the start of the Test was 140, rising to 186.
''The figures indicate that in a Test there is a massive amount of high- intensity efforts,'' Harding said. ''The difference between our metres and rugby league metres revolves around our work-to-rest ratio because we have scrums and lineouts.
''So our efforts are quicker and more high-intensity. Basically it involves the same amount of metres in less time, so it sees the rugby players accelerating more. We've also got bigger guys moving quicker.''
Harding said the findings would be used to ensure that Wallabies training was ''more effective and more game-like''.
''We want better-conditioned players,'' he said. ''So we need to use our training systems more effectively to get both the technical side out of it but also the physical side, whether it's conditioning, speed or acceleration. We're trying to get the balance right to ensure we get more out of the work we are doing.''
http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/un...828-13wu5.html
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