ozbash
Referee
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Memo to the All Blacks' jersey suppliers: you had better make them a size bigger this year.
Following 12 weeks of tailored fitness and skills programmes, a key unit of 22 rugby internationals have emerged from 'Camp Conditioning' fitter, faster and bigger.
The camp winds up here tomorrow with the players released to their respective Super 14 squads for their reintroduction to the competition expected around March 23.
Not surprisingly, players and coaches alike quietly raved about the progress made with players allowed valuable time to condition themselves for the international season culminating with the World Cup in September in France.
The squad were controversially omitted from the opening rounds of the Super 14, with complaints from rugby paymaster News Ltd, but All Blacks assistant coach Wayne Smith makes no apologies for the break.
If anything, Smith insisted that a similar type of conditioning programme needed to be introduced every year to prevent player burnout.
"I'm not saying this will be done again this way, but I think it's raised an issue that we need to find time for these guys to condition every year," Smith said yesterday.
"Globally the season needs to be integrated because you can't have elite athletes playing all year round.
"In any given year we're going from January to end of November. They have four weeks off then they're back into it. You can't keep doing that year after year.
"I don't know what the solution is, but I what I do know is that it's going to come to a head and there needs to be more thought given to player welfare as part of a global season.
"It's not ideal that the best players don't play, but for the good of the players and good of rugby short term and medium term it's the ideal option."
Besides the physical aspects of the camp – with all the players recording improved results in strength, speed, agility and skill level – Smith stressed the players' top-two inches had received attention.
Achieving a mental and physical balance was paramount and he believed the group, the core of whom have been working with the coaching regime for the past three years, were the best balanced players he had ever worked with.
"Of course you coach and do your physical training but you need a whole package to play really, really well," Smith said.
"I think those intangibles of character and spirit make a difference between a good team and great team.
"I think all in all it's the best balanced group and one of the most responsible groups I've had.
"You need responsibility and self-awareness in your athletes and I think this group is the best I've had in that respect."
For all the benefits Smith extolled about the camp, some players still felt anxious about their absence from the Super 14.
That anxiety has possibly been heightened with some impressive performances from current internationals who fell outside of the protected 22-man squad.
Midfield back Aaron Mauger, an All Black since 2001, was not immune to the feeling.
"I was a little apprehensive last year when I found out about it, that I was going to be one of those guys (not playing)," he said.
"It's always hard watching other guys play and you know you don't get the reward of playing at the end of the week, even though you're training hard. "Everyone here seems to be a little apprehensive about going back into the sides, a bit nervous about trying to get their positions back, but hopefully we get a crack and you can't worry about it too much."
Following 12 weeks of tailored fitness and skills programmes, a key unit of 22 rugby internationals have emerged from 'Camp Conditioning' fitter, faster and bigger.
The camp winds up here tomorrow with the players released to their respective Super 14 squads for their reintroduction to the competition expected around March 23.
Not surprisingly, players and coaches alike quietly raved about the progress made with players allowed valuable time to condition themselves for the international season culminating with the World Cup in September in France.
The squad were controversially omitted from the opening rounds of the Super 14, with complaints from rugby paymaster News Ltd, but All Blacks assistant coach Wayne Smith makes no apologies for the break.
If anything, Smith insisted that a similar type of conditioning programme needed to be introduced every year to prevent player burnout.
"I'm not saying this will be done again this way, but I think it's raised an issue that we need to find time for these guys to condition every year," Smith said yesterday.
"Globally the season needs to be integrated because you can't have elite athletes playing all year round.
"In any given year we're going from January to end of November. They have four weeks off then they're back into it. You can't keep doing that year after year.
"I don't know what the solution is, but I what I do know is that it's going to come to a head and there needs to be more thought given to player welfare as part of a global season.
"It's not ideal that the best players don't play, but for the good of the players and good of rugby short term and medium term it's the ideal option."
Besides the physical aspects of the camp – with all the players recording improved results in strength, speed, agility and skill level – Smith stressed the players' top-two inches had received attention.
Achieving a mental and physical balance was paramount and he believed the group, the core of whom have been working with the coaching regime for the past three years, were the best balanced players he had ever worked with.
"Of course you coach and do your physical training but you need a whole package to play really, really well," Smith said.
"I think those intangibles of character and spirit make a difference between a good team and great team.
"I think all in all it's the best balanced group and one of the most responsible groups I've had.
"You need responsibility and self-awareness in your athletes and I think this group is the best I've had in that respect."
For all the benefits Smith extolled about the camp, some players still felt anxious about their absence from the Super 14.
That anxiety has possibly been heightened with some impressive performances from current internationals who fell outside of the protected 22-man squad.
Midfield back Aaron Mauger, an All Black since 2001, was not immune to the feeling.
"I was a little apprehensive last year when I found out about it, that I was going to be one of those guys (not playing)," he said.
"It's always hard watching other guys play and you know you don't get the reward of playing at the end of the week, even though you're training hard. "Everyone here seems to be a little apprehensive about going back into the sides, a bit nervous about trying to get their positions back, but hopefully we get a crack and you can't worry about it too much."
