Rugby Football Union Report 2007

ELITE RUGBY

continued

England U18 won eight of their nine games played during the domestic season, the only loss being a disappointing one against Wales in the Six Nations. They went on to win three of their four games on the summer tour to Australia. This was the first U18 southern hemisphere tour for some time and it will be reintroduced into the programme. We believe a number of players from this group are destined for a big future in the game.

In May staff from the Sports Science and Medicine Department organised a briefing session for the rugby media, to give them an insight into the behind-the-scenes activity, which this season amounted to 420 days of training, touring and test match duty in support of all the England elite teams. In sports medicine, the RFU’s injury audit has been completed, while the IRB-funded tackle study continues its detailed investigation of the precise mechanics of injuries caused in the tackle. The RFU’s pitch side immediate trauma care course is now the world’s leading training programme for rugby medical staff and has become the mandatory standard for all England and premiership medical teams.

On the fitness front, Simon Worsnop has developed a new strength and conditioning coaching course for academy staff which is accredited by 1st4Sport and has been very well received by the fitness industry. The programming for the storage and calculation of fitness scores using the RFU Fitness and Anthropometric Scoring Template (FAST) has been completed and is available to academy and England staff. The RFU policy on strength training for young people has been revised and approved by Club England, and recommends that children can participate safely in strength and conditioning programmes provided they are properly supervised in appropriate facilities.

The Elite Coach Development programme continues to grow and develop under Kevin Bowring. Programmes are designed to inspire coaches to find their own solutions to coaching problems rather than simply imparting knowledge. The aim is to develop creative and innovative coaches who can meet the challenge of professional coaching.

We were sorry to lose Phil Keith-Roach as a full-time member of staff during the season although he will continue to work

with us on a number of projects as an independent scrum consultant. Phil has been a fantastic coach with the England team and helped a lot of players throughout the age groups during his 11 years with the RFU. In addition we unfortunately had to make Dave Reddin’s post as head of fitness redundant in December.

We were delighted that Graham Rowntree joined the National Academy coaching team in June, since when he has been assisting John Wells with the World Cup squad.

The busy Ashridge programme gave coaches the opportunity to listen to a number of guest speakers talk about a range of subjects, from leadership in the armed forces to the management of change in Olympic sport. The level 4 and level 5 coach awards are now well established. The ‘attached coach’ programme gave seven academy coaches the opportunity to be ‘fly on the wall’ observers of international age group coaching teams in action and preparing for international competition.

The individual mentoring and support of coaches operating in the elite game is fostering a culture of continuous professional development and progression. There is still a great deal to do and programmes are continually reviewed and developed to stimulate learning and coach development. The most pleasing development is the fact that coaches are beginning to take more responsibility for their own learning and this is supported enthusiastically by the RFU and the Elite Rugby Department.

The Elite Referee programme continues to flourish apace under the guidance of Colin High. We were delighted that three RFU referees – Wayne Barnes, Tony Spreadbury and Chris White – were selected in the pool of 12 referees for this year’s Rugby World Cup, while Dave Pearson was selected as a touch judge. Tony, in the finale to his international refereeing career, was given the great honour of refereeing the opening match in Paris. Wayne, in just his second season as an international referee, took charge of the New Zealand v France quarter final in Cardiff.

In December two MBA students from the London Business School were appointed to conduct a feasibility study for a potential national centre for rugby.