SA Rugby will move towards the implementation of a unified performance enhancement strategy following a conditioning workshop held in Cape Town on Wednesday.
The members of the workshop agreed to establish physical preparation standards of players, the continuous monitoring of players and also the management of player training loads.
Springbok coach Allister Coetzee, together with Springbok strength and conditioning coach Dr Warren Adams, and other senior SA Rugby staff, attended the performance enhancement workshop along with strength and conditioning coaches of the six Super Rugby franchises at SA Rugby headquarters in Plattekloof.
Stephan du Toit (Stormers), Johan Pretorius (Sharks), Quintin Kruger (Cheetahs), Ivan van Rooyen (Lions), Nadus Nieuwoudt (Southern Kings) and Henri-Charl Terblanche (Bulls) are the franchise strength and conditioning coaches who met with Coetzee and members of his coaching staff on Wednesday.
The SA Rugby coaches’ indaba, which was hosted in Cape Town two months ago, was designed to plot a new direction for Springbok rugby and one of the upshots of that gathering was to host a workshop to specifically discuss the conditioning of the players based in South Africa.
The workshop was facilitated by Sean Surmon, who is head of High Performance at Maties Sport. Dr Adams will now table the outcomes of the conditioning workshop for discussion at the next coaches’ indaba, which takes place on Monday, 12 December, in Cape Town.
Coetzee described the meeting as very productive and confirmed there will be continuous collaborative interactions throughout next year.
'I am very excited about the expertise that was evident from everyone that attended the workshop. We will now present the very positive outcomes of the workshop at next week’s Coaches’ Indaba,' said Coetzee.
'The conditioning workshop followed on a meeting between SA Rugby and the doctors of the Super Rugby franchise teams, held last week, where they discussed injury prevention, management and player welfare strategies.'
Photo: Clive Rose/Getty Images
