The French team is on a hiding to nothing in this mid-season fixture - Super League based players are worked into the grounds by the cumulative effects of a gruelling Super League schedule, season after season, as [url=http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/rugby/2010/02/14/super-12-row-115875-22041251/senior figures like Jamie Peacock identified[/url:
Quote Jamie Peacock="Jamie Peacock""If an outsider looked into our league and wondered why we get beaten by the Aussies he'd think we were stupid playing the number of matches we do.
<snipped>
"The modern game is played at collision speed and injuries are inevitable.
"Rest is important to our athletes."'"
The logic is the same for the French trying to compete with England. French test players (as well as England and Wales test players) should only be playing 16 Super League fixtures (rather than 27), with a maximum of 30 games over the course of a season, 32 at the absolute most. Unfortunately, in recent seasons, leading senior players are overworked and the effect on them is being blunted, ineffective and eventually breaking down with injury, e.g. these are the game workloads for leading French players, not including pre-season games:
* 2008 - Raguin and Bosc played in at least 35 games, Mounis in at least 34 games, Casty in 32 games.
* 2007 - Ferriol, Gossard and Rinaldi played in at least 33 games, probably in 35.
* 2006 - Jamal Fakir played in at least 35 games and unsurprisingly suffered a major knee injury in his last. Fellous played in at least 34 games, Guisset in at least 33 games, Mounis played in at least 32 games.
The lack of attention to manage player welfare and workload leads to players breaking down, and the huge injury list before this match exemplifies that fact. Super League's international players receive a more gruelling schedule and workload than any other nation in Rugby League OR Rugby Union, largely due to an excessive schedule of club games. Leading South African Sports Scientist Tim Noakes the studied the issue of workload in detail, consulted with the SA cricket and Rugby Union national teams, and his advice to the Springboks helped them win the Rugby World Cup. He has constantly championed the need for easing the burden on players to avoid burnout and injury, such as [url=http://www.keo.co.za/2006/05/23/noakes-burnout-will-sink-boks/all-comments/#commentsBurnout will sink Boks[/url:
Quote Jamie Peacock="Leading Sports Scientist Tim Noakes"Some of our top players have been playing rugby continuously for nearly three years,” <snipped> “No player’s body can take so much punishment week in and week out.
“It’s no surprise that Bakkies Botha and Bryan Habana were injured in the Super 14 semi-final. They are two of the players who have been totally over-utilised the past three seasons.
“It is inevitable that they would be injured at some time or other. These were not freak injuries. Your brain tells you to continue, but your body will rebel at some stage.
“My advice is that key players like Matfield and Burger must forget about rugby for two months. They must not go near a rugby field, because it’s just as important that they get a mental break.”'"
The precise recommendation for workload is at [url=http://www.keo.co.za/2009/05/26/noakes-rotation-will-be-key/Noakes - Rotation will be key[/url
Quote Jamie PeacockThe new Super Rugby format will see teams playing a minimum of 16 games and a maximum of 19. Add that to the June Tests, six Tri-Nations clashes, the November Tests and four or five rounds of the Currie Cup and some Boks could be playing well in excess of 30 competitive games in a season – far too many in Noakes’s opinion.
‘Our research has shown that once players start playing more then 20 games a year they are in trouble. The peak seems to be around 23 or 24 games. That is what you can sustain year on year. Not one player has played 30 games a year without getting injured.
‘Once these players get up to 30 games a year, the next year is a disaster. If you ask players to play a minimum of 16 Super Rugby games and all those Test matches they are going to last one season efore getting injured.
<snipped>
‘We’ll be looking at the data we have from our studies with Peter, but it can clearly be seen that the players who play more then 24 games will eventually get injured.
As a result of the lack of rest, Noakes believes players are subconsciously starting to take matters into their own hands.
‘What I believe is starting to happen is that players now regulate themselves and get injured when it’s convenient. It might sound strange but it is not inconceivable to me that the brain says that’s it and they get injured.’'"
Furthermore, the FFR based players are also asked to play this game at the end of a long season, and these players would also be tired and jaded.
