England Rugby - Grafting in Denver

For the past two weeks England Rugby swapped the leafy suburbs of Bagshot in Surrey for the place commonly referred to as the ‘Mile-High City’, Denver in Colorado. The air may be thinner, with a documented 17% less oxygen than cities at sea level, however the focus and intensity of training continued to rise and from a coach’s perspective England are totally on track as Andy Farrell shared on their final Friday in the US;

‘I’m very happy with the plan and how it is going, and it is going according to plan, the guys are 100% committed to the cause and what we are really impressed with is the unity and respect that goes alongside the graft and the time and effort that they have put in together. The togetherness because of the pain and the excitement that they are going through together has been there for all to see. It is brilliant really, competition for places is as high as it possibly came be but not for one second has it comprised the unity of the squad.’

From the outset the England management have articulated their objectives when it comes to the physical side of England’s preparation in terms of their fitness levels. The clear ambition is to accelerate the squad’s fitness levels to a place in which they can out perform their counterparts on the largest of stages with an 'all court' game. This 'all court' game is one that keeps the ball in play and alive for as long as possible, akin to the intensity that All Blacks and South Africa played at recently at Ellis Park. Needless to say the only way to get there is through intense training and the manner in which the squad are handling this has both encouraged and inspired their backs coach;

‘I’ve been through many camps in my time as a player and coach and there is one thing for sure, they couldn’t be doing any more, we’ve had to hold back on today especially because this week has been pretty brutal really not just in the sense of running, we are asking questions as far as the rugby is concerned and the physical tasks.'

'Sometimes these lads are doing 4 sessions as day that is demanding in itself but here at altitude in 32 degrees of heat it is a little bit different. At the end of a gruelling session the unity within the squad and the fight to get through it together is awe inspiring to watch from a coach's point of view, they’ve been digging in together and are going to come out a better team.’

As alluded to above Denver has seen the introduction of more rugby specific elements to training with live matches and unit specific sessions. The news out of camp last week that Sam Burgess’ is being assessed as a centre has caught the attention of many. There is no doubt about the fact that, to date, his best rugby has been performed with a 6 on his back however it is his physical presence in the middle that is required from England. Farrell's words from camp on Friday were that Burgess has ‘made a very good account of himself’ and is ‘very comfortable’ in the centre. Alongside this Farrell reiterated the point that at the end of the day, Sam is just like every single member of the squad in that he is striving to prove himself enough to have the opportunity to play a spot of rugby when they return during the warm up fixtures and beyond. 

The process hereon for England's coaching team is getting the balance right, the balance will be cutting down the numbers in order to create a compact and indelible squad without rushing into key selection decisions. As it stands there is set to be another cut before the QBE International against France, the squad will return and have a well earned week off and following that there will be one more full training week together at Pennyhill Park with some names cut at the end of it, the number of names isn't set in stone.The expectations for the first warm up game from England’s backs coach are clear and a progression on from the last run out at Twickenham Stadium is part of that;

‘We are expecting an improved performance and fantastic performances from individuals. I’m sure that they’ll be a few things to iron out and as coaches we need for things to go wrong so that we can improve on them and so that there is nothing that can come up later on. But, are we expecting a top England performance at home in the first warm up game? Of course we are.’