Monday, January 24, 2011

Ever wonder what happens the day of a late kick-off?

from Barry Coughlan in Paris
NOT so many years ago, you could fix your clock by rugby at three o'clock on a Saturday, followed, of course, by another game – a drinking session – between the combatants.
In Ireland, Ulster would never play on a Sunday but that was the day normally set aside for junior rugby competitions in the rest of the country.
Friday night matches? Never. No interest. No floodlights!
Then along came Sky and administrators with vision (Ireland’s Tom Kiernan being one); the birth of the Heineken Cup was to change everything.
These days, the kick-off times aren’t fixed to suit the players or the travel arrangements of the visiting teams; they are decided by the European television partners to maximise the viewing audience.
So, in a bizarre week for Ireland’s main Heineken Cup hopefuls Leinster will have been involved in games with 1.30 pm and 9 pm (8 pm Irish time) kick offs.
There are no prizes for guessing which one the players prefer.
Ireland coach Declan Kidney has often referred to the fact that players are likely to perform better if they’ve had the benefit of sleeping in their own beds the night before big matches.
If that’s the case, Leinster might not be expected to hit a peak this evening against Racing Metro having had to overnight here in Paris.
Not just that, but today is a day for idling and twiddling thumbs before allowing the adrenalin to start pumping shortly after 8 pm. It’s a long day, and a very boring one.
Insiders tell us they will try to stick to a routine as best as possible, but that a night game with a kick off as late as this is unnatural given that night time is usually for rest after a long day either on the training pitch, in the gymnasium, or both.
So early this Friday, the Leinster squad gathered shortly before 10 am to partake in a cooked breakfast (for those of such a persduasion), after which they will have had an initial meeting to talk about the game. If the circumstances required it, there would have been a short video analysis of last week’s victory over Saracens or of a recent Racing Metro game to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition.
Most of the players then retire to their rooms, to watch a movie or take a nap. Some might go for a walkabout although that’s not particularly encouraged; they’re advised to stay off their feet as much as possible through a long day.
To break the monotony, probably around 1 pm, the forwards will gather to participate in a short line out session, while the backs may go through some pre-planned moves after which there will probably have been another team discussion.
Back in their rooms, the players will have another free spell before eats; lunch/dinner will normally be served some four hours before the kick off to allow for full digestion of a meal that will generally be made up of pasta, chicken, fish and fruit.
That’s about the time when the excitement kicks in, that when dinner is over it’s time to start enthusing and fretting about the game itself.
That’s about the time when time really doesn’t matter.
 

 

Source: http://feeds.examiner.ie/~r/iesportsblog/~3/BxMLP6wgf2M/post.aspx

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