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The games might still be a week (or two in some cases) away, but if an Australian team is to prevail in this year’s Super Rugby competition, a significant part of the process of being successful will already have been completed.
By this, I refer to squad selection, conditioning and planning.
All three components are critical for all competitions, but especially one as elongated as Super Rugby, even more so now given the added dynamic of the June Test window.
Managing the loads of players who will be required for the Test matches in June, but then be key performers at state level after they report back for duty in Super Rugby, is critical – both for national teams and the Super teams.
Likewise managing the needs for the players not employed at Test level through June has also taken on critical importance.
For all of us, last year was our first experience of this process.
Lessons have been taken on board.
Seasonal outcomes are not generally accidental.
They are achieved by detailed preparation and planning, both physically but just as importantly mentally, with all eventualities – in terms of injury and unavailability – accounted for.
This is a critical part of squad selection, both for match night, but also for the wider squad.
You are only as strong as your weakest link.
During my Super Rugby experience, we looked to cater for our every need, game planning if you like, for how we would respond in any given situation, if any particular player was unavailable to us.
This was an important part of squad selection before the season even started to minimise the ability that one injury could have in compromising the entire group.
We also mapped out our season from the start, exploring where the opportunities would be to lighten the loads, managing the players so that the on-field burden was carried collectively.
This was critical, not only in allowing all bodies to be rested at some point, but also in ensuring that should a first choice player be injured or unavailable heading into the business end of the competition, we had a player in reserve who had had recent exposure, and so was as prepared as he could be to take the step up.
On a number of occasions during my time at the Crusaders, we lost first choice players at the business end of the competition – examples being Justin Marshall in 2000, Andy Ellis in 2006 and Corey Flynn in 2008 – immediately before, or in, the semi-finals; but were able to trust in their replacements, Ben Hurst, Kevin Senio and Ti’i Paulo respectively, to step in without it upsetting the team dynamic.
It was an essential part of the process. This includes in 2007 where the All Black conditioning programme meant that we were without half of our regular squad for two thirds of the season.
One of my misgivings about that situation at the time was that those players, having not been involved for the bulk of the competition, would struggle to get up to speed, to catch up if you like, with the rest of the players once they returned.
So it proved.
Historically, up until that point in their history, the Crusaders had always gotten stronger at the back end of the year.
It was one of the key factors in their repeated success.
In 2007, the reverse proved the case.
The players who were returning from the conditioning programme were unable to stay with the competition when they lifted as they lacked the rugby background.
As a result, having been in top position on the ladder for much of the year – which included beating the eventual champion Bulls by 22 points at home without all of the All Blacks, we lost our last two games of the regular season, which forced us to have to travel to South Africa for a semi-final, which was lost to the Bulls.
We didn’t have the continuity physically across the group that was needed to match the opposition when they stepped up at the business end of the competition.
This is as true in 2013, as it was six years ago.
That’s why the work already done by the franchises to date, both in terms of their physical preparation as well as in selection planning, will have a major bearing on their outcomes.
It also flows on to the Qantas Wallabies, albeit in a slightly different way, in that national teams ‘inherit’ the players from their states or franchises.
Given the tightness of the preparation, national teams are captive to the physical (and in some cases, mental) states in which the players arrive into camp.
This is why an increased focus is being put on preparation time, as well as injury management and player work load in competition, to ensure that the players are being given the best opportunity to compete at both Super Rugby but also international level.
As manager of the Crusaders between 1997 and 1999, and coach between 2000 and 2008, Qantas Wallabies coach Robbie Deans was directly associated with seven titles, five (2000, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2008) of which he presided over as head coach, as well as two other appearances in the final. He is the most successful coach in Super Rugby. His five titles (from nine attempts) as a head coach still represent 29% of all Super Rugby titles, four years after he was last involved in the competition.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.