Burnout worries Henry

Graham Henry says the Super 14 coaches have to manage their All Blacks players if they’re to avoid fatigue at the end of a taxing Test season.

The Springbok and South African Super 14 coaches are rarely on the same page when it comes to this issue, and it appears as if Henry shares the concerns of Peter de Villiers. Tests must take priority over Super Rugby, and so coaches need to ensure their stars don’t play too much rugby before the international season kicks off in June.

According to rugbyheaven.co.nz, Henry will speak to the five Kiwi coaches this Friday.

‘We will be talking about the players. Making sure they have all the information that we’ve acquired on this tour about those players and trying to assist them in their development so we are all on the same page about what they require,’ Henry said.

‘It might not be all about physical conditions, or skills or mental skills, it might be how much rugby they play.

‘Can we keep them to a high level with the amount of rugby they play or do they need a bit of space from time to time and can we agree on how best to do that.’

Where South Africa falls short is there’s no mandate from the Bok coach to rest players for a specific number of matches, and so the SA Super 14 coaches have the freedom to decide how many games is too many. It seems Henry is also reluctant to demand rest periods.

‘They’re not going to be a month out of the game, but a guy might play for three weeks and he needs a break for a week, so he gets out of the environment and gets away.

‘Otherwise they are going to be playing rugby 10 months a year for the next two years and they will be buggered. They are buggered now.’



34 Comments

  • 1.Test: Reply to this comment

    Burnout Dragons?

  • 2.PissAnt: Reply to this comment

    Say it isn’t so?

    Tackler, is Henry now also a Tim Noakes disciple???

    The horror…

  • 3.TheTackler: Reply to this comment

    ABs won ALL their EOYT tests and they absolutely shredded France by tearing through with FIVE tries, so there’s no “fatigue” there at all.

    OK the dirt-trackers dropped off the intensity a bit versus the test all-star Baa Baas, but we all know Baa Baa footie take every risk rugby. So an arch-poacher like Habana would naturally “find circumstances to his liking”, poaching wise.

    Noakes has zero traction in serious circles with his ancient 1980s theory beimg rehashed year after year like a Buddist mantra.

    His paradigm shifted away from him a decade or more ago.

    He’s waiting at the platform for a train that came and went long ago.

  • 4.Golden Boy: Reply to this comment

    @TheTackler:

    Seems like Henry is still stuck in the 80′s then Tackler…btw..the 80′s were nearly 3 decades ago…but don’t let that get in the way of a good troll.

  • 5.justrugby: Reply to this comment

    @TheTackler:

    And you missed the train out of “Onderbroekiesspruit”, and we have to suffer as a result !! :)

  • 6.PissAnt: Reply to this comment

    @TheTackler:

    If I wanted a summary of the AB’s tour I would have asked for it…

    Simple, Henry subscribes to the very thing Noakes has been on about for the past couple of years.

    It started with McCaw being pulled out of the first couple of weeks, and following the meeting with the other coaches expect more guys being pulled out.

  • 7.Sonito: Reply to this comment

    @TheTackler:

    Well Noakes advice seemed to work for us in the last WC. How did the AB “rest” period before the WC work out again??

  • 8.Tacitus: Reply to this comment

    Bugger that. I want the Super 14 trophy in Pretoria.

  • 9.mozez22: Reply to this comment

    LOL! Today gets better. I wanna see what some of the fellas who suggested this fatigue business is **** have to say now. Although, I don’t believe it is the reason the Boks were awful during the EoYT.

  • 10.poppa69: Reply to this comment

    this is Henrys way of subtly bringing in his rotation policy, AGAIN… I said it when he was first re-instated, my worst fears are starting to materialise…

  • 11.wp_boytjie: Reply to this comment

    Did half the NZ team play in the Air New Zealand Cup Final ? NO. Did half the All Black team play a Super 14 final. NO Did They play the Lions ? NO. And Don’t even try to compare a 2 test series against France to the British Lions , The Lions is way bigger , way more effort , way bigger game and occasion.

    But somehow the Kiwi coach is concerned about his core players who have not nearly played as much rugby as ours. That should be seen as a crystal clear sign of how badly our core players need a good rest. But I see many of you dismiss it and expect them to carry on…

    Some of you should be made coaches and sports doctors you seem to know oh so much. I bow down to your “superior knowledge”

  • 12.Cheetah 4 Eva: Reply to this comment

    Wonder where all the loud mouth AB supporters are now, when an article appeared saying the Boks were tired, they were labelled whingers cos they lost to France !!

    Now the All Brag coach says so, and it’s correct, because they won their eoyt tests..

    Kiwi logic, it’s astounding!!

    Bring on the next S14, and Tri- Nations, methinks, it will be more of the same, and the Cheetah’s and Stormers in particular look strong for the S14, Bulls should also carry on their good form, Sharks are abit of a mystery at the moment!!

    Ther pshycological damage it willcause the Kiwi’s if the Boks blanket them again, a year b4 the WC at home!!

  • 13.Papoose: Reply to this comment

    @Sonito: LMAO!!!!

  • 14.poppa69: Reply to this comment

    @Cheetah 4 Eva: didnt want to disappoint you, but how many kiwi supporters have agreed with him here ??? unlike a lot of SA supporters who did say that exact thing… theres a difference, can you see it though?

    Pissant, McCaw was injured at the start of the season, he wasnt rested… though he is being rested at the start NEXT year..

  • 15.poppa69: Reply to this comment

    Pissant, just reread your post, realise now you were talking next year, my apologies..

  • 16.iceman: Reply to this comment

    The country the manages their top players the best over the next year will mostly likely win the World Cup the following year!

    SARU should insist that our very best players (top 15) only start playing in the Super 14 in week 7 of the competition which would ensure a good break from all rugby and would afford them enough time to revitalize their bodies for next years Tri-Nations.

    They should also be resticted as to how many games they play in the Currie Cup next year, with perhaps only playing their home games in the round robin stages and then in the semi’s and final.

  • 17.PissAnt: Reply to this comment

    @poppa69:

    No problem

  • 18.Storm outta hell: Reply to this comment

    Poor buggered buggers :lol:

  • 19.Storm outta hell: Reply to this comment

    and buggerers :tongue:

  • 20.Storm outta hell: Reply to this comment

    @iceman: Wasn’t that exactly what GH tried the last time round..??

  • 21.Storm outta hell: Reply to this comment

    @Cheetah 4 Eva: Whoohooo….Cheetahs,Stormers and Bulls to make top six next year…from there anything can happen :grin:

  • 22.Transformation: Reply to this comment

    where is wakanathan now? Ha ha ha the pretentious @rsehole, now you own coach is going on about being buggered!

  • 23.Kiwisamoan: Reply to this comment

    at least we still won our end of EYOT test, even if our players as henry suggested are fatigued, just goes to show who’s got more heart aye.

  • 24.whatever: Reply to this comment

    @Kiwisamoan:

    Heart was shown when it counted, in the 3 Nations and s14.

    You can show heart all you like in the EOYT’s and between WC’s In fact go mad, give it heaps…..

  • 25.iceman: Reply to this comment

    @Storm outta hell:

    Yes you are right, he did try it but did not rest his players at the right time.

    They came into the World Cup under-cooked. I think Jake White probably got it right with the advice of Noakes.

  • 26.marvinb: Reply to this comment

    @wp_boytjie: Yes we know about the Lions 2005 3 nil with bigger margins than what the Boks did against the All Blacks 2009. You maybe right but not everyone is the same.

  • 27.marvinb: Reply to this comment

    @whatever: So in the last 12 years of Tri Nations and Super 14 who has won more NZ or SA?

  • 28.who cares: Reply to this comment

    We don’t have to rest our players in the Super 14, stick to what works for us, rest them in the Tri Nations.

  • 29.Ratel Brussow : Reply to this comment

    Leave the boks out of next years CC and rest them for the home 3N games in 2011. Our full strength side should tour NZ to check on conditions etc and try to get one over the All Blacks physiologically.

  • 30.TheTackler: Reply to this comment

    Henry’s buying not even a thimbleful of Noaksie’s feeble 20 year old snake oil. Henry’s too clever.

  • 31.klippies101: Reply to this comment

    Noakes has zero traction in serious circles with his ancient 1980s theory beimg rehashed year after year like a Buddist mantra.

    so then why is henry saying he is worried bout burnout tackles

  • 32.rex: Reply to this comment

    Methinks that the “Tackler” may be attempting to provoke a response from Noakes to increase his own cache here. People may remember that Noakes wrote on this very website a few years ago and included a scathing dismissal of the “Tackler” – mentioning him by name. His intent was to dispel his ignorant pratings so that he did not misinform readers. You all will have noticed that the aforesaid “Tackler” says things with great conviction and in such language that is bound to evoke howls of abusive protest. Many of the comments are not well-substantiated but …he does have a way of getting under people’s skin.

    For example, he dismisses Noakes knowledge as being rooted in the “’80s”. It would be interesting to know how much Sports Science our friend “Tackler” actually knows. Moreover, even if the knowledge did arise from research in the 1980s does not mean it is wrong ( the theory of relativity was published in 1905 and it is not wrong) and Noakes probably bases his expert opinion on current literature which is why he is regarded as an expert. Hopefully Noakes will not waste his time.

  • 33.Jozi: Reply to this comment

    @rex: I remember that very well and I must say Tickles got his *** handed to him good and proper that day. He stopped blogging for weeks, claimed he had been very busy when he eventually returned.
    Tickles cops a fair amount but to his credit he doesn’t appear to take himself too seriously.
    He’s a wind up merchant; we know it, he knows it.

  • 34.rangerman: Reply to this comment

    @rex: i kinda like the tackler.

    he is like the dog vrap on the lawn that makes the rest of the lawn look great in comparison.

    he is the hobo with the haunted eyes and gin breath that makes us all feel just that little bit more wealthy than we were five minutes before.

    in short, he is the bad that allows us to measure good.

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