Clive Woodward Talks on food and training
By Kath 28/8/03
August 28 2003
Andrew Titheridge of Zurich Rugby again talks to Clive. This time Clive covers the climate, food and the new kit to be seen on Saturday!
For immediate release: 28 August 2003
ZURICH RUGBY:
The Clive Woodward Zurich Rugby Interview
Andrew Titheridge: Clive, we are down here luxuriating in
the South of France. How important is training in this sort heat in the
build-up to the World Cup?
Clive Woodward:
I think the climate in England over the last few weeks has meant that we have
been training in this sort of weather for quite a few weeks. When we planned
this over two years ago now, we thought of coming down to Marseilles if the
weather wasn't so hot in England. To come and spend a week
down here in this sort of heat would be good preparation. It does actually help
you acclimatise, but the experts recommend staying far, far longer in a country
than this to actually acclimatise to the heat. The big thing it does though
Andrew is get people used to operating in the heat in terms of just obvious
things like using insect repellent, sun cream lotion, and taking on literally
gallons of water which you're not actually used to.
The players are used to drinking a lot of water anyway as it's all part of their
diet and their preparation, but you've got to really load it over here. So
it just a case of how you operate in the heat to get the optimum performance.
The lads that played in the searing heat in Cardiff at the weekend did really
well, and it just showed that what we're doing is correct.
In terms of acclimatisation, you have
just not got the time to acclimatise to what we're going to get in Australia,
but their fitness side will more then compensate for that. But the games are in
the evening and I'm very confident. In Dave I think we've got the best fitness
guy in world rugby if not in world sport. Certainly the players follow him to
the letter and we're
convinced that we will arrive at the World Cup in as good as shape as any other
team.
AT: What are the requirements from where you are staying? What is the most important thing - is it the pitch or the food?
CW: Whenever we go away from our normal training ground at Pennyhill
Park, the number one thing is the pitch. Where you train is everything because
you can pick up injuries. You cannot train on a pitch that is uneven or is too
hard so you prioritise the pitch, then everything else comes from there.
The food is very important. We bring the chef down from Pennyhill Park because
the food can vary a lot and it's not a case of worrying about the quality, its
just the type of food because it's all part of the nutrition programme that we
work on.
Then third is the hotel. The hotel here
is lovely - it has no air conditioning so it's been very hot for the guys, which
has actually been help. But the number one thing is the pitch, we want to come
down here and train and everything else is secondary to what we do on the
training paddock.
AT: The
team's got a new kit you've been experimenting with. Will you use it and does it
work?
CW: We will play in the World Cup kit on Saturday for the first
time. It's not a case of experimenting; we've been working really closely
with Nike, one of the main sponsors of the team. We highlighted this almost two
years ago to Nike when Jason Robinson would have scored three tries I think
against Scotland, but they kept on grabbing hold of his shirt and I sent an
email to Nike with a throw away line, 'watch these three moments'.
I think if his shirt had fitted tighter
he would have scored three tries and Nike have been absolutely outstanding. They
have gone away and designed a kit for the World Cup that when you see it, it's
clearly very tight. Also the material when you are perspiring a lot, which they
will during the World Cup, the difference in weight between a current
shirt and this new one is staggering.
The French use them as well and the down side is that Nike also sponsor France
and South Africa, so those three teams will be wearing this kit for the World
Cup. Well I think they will, certainly England will and the guys have been using
them in training and think it's excellent, and we will see on Saturday when we
go out for the first time.
It's all about getting an edge and
working in partnership with our key sponsors. We work brilliantly with our hotel
Pennyhill Park and fantastically with Zurich, and Nike is another way where we
really can get an edge on performance. It's not only about getting a swoosh on
the shirt, it's about seeing if they can produce something that actually
aids the performance of the team.
AT: And if it worked, presumably within a couple of
years all the Zurich Premiership clubs will be playing in this type of kit?
CW: I think what is interesting is that the All Blacks are
sponsored by Adidas and already have pretty tight fitting shirts, but I don't
think they are as tight as the one's you will see on Saturday. But this was
designed mainly due to the Jason Robinson incident and the heat factor,
but I think once the players start wearing it, it will be interesting to see
what we will wear in next year's Six Nations when we go back to more English
style weather.
I think they will want to stay with it because it's very tight and very light
and they can still wear the padding underneath it. Obviously in the Zurich
Premiership there are a great variety of manufacturer's supplying teams. If it's
working, and the best thing is from the players, I obviously get all my feedback
from the players and so far it's thumbs-up and I think they like it. It's not a
kit for fat people (laughs) - I'm not looking at you, I was looking at
myself!
I'm not sure how the replica kits are going to sell because the guys now are
working on their six packs a lot. It is going to be one that the guys with the
good bodies will be proud of.