London: The story behind England’s dramatic victory against Wales began four years ago in the searing heat of Qatar with a Spanish exercise physiologist who had previously worked with Jose Mourinho.
The meeting of Eddie Jones, then head coach of Japan, with Alberto Mendez-Villanueva was a defining moment both for his coaching philosophy and in England’s remarkable transformation since the nadir of the 2015 World Cup.
Jones returned with a new vision of how to adapt teams’ training so that players would be able to withstand the most exacting periods of pressure and remain in contention to the death of Test matches even when being outplayed.
This training strategy that underpinned Japan’s sensational victory over South Africa at the World Cup, a result that effectively put Jones on the Rugby Football Union’s radar to replace Stuart Lancaster.
Now it underpins Jones’s tenure with England and was critical to his side’s ability to withstand the kitchen sink that Wales threw at them on Saturday and extend their record run of victories to 16, while keeping alive their hopes of a second successive Grand Slam.
“We use a methodology which I’ve borrowed from soccer called tactical periodisation,” revealed Jones.
“Every day we train a specific parameter of the game. We have one day where we have a physical session and do more contacts than we would do in a game. Then we have a fast day where we try to train for at least 60 per cent of the session above game speed. We don’t do any extra fitness. It’s all done within those training sessions. Because of that we’ve improved our fitness enormously.”
There are “four moments” of tactical periodisation: offensive organisation, the transition from defence to attack, defensive organisation and the transition from attack to defence. The aim is to help players rapidly alter their on-field behaviours according to the tactical context of the match and what unfolds in front of them. A key barometer of England’s intensity is measured by how quickly their players get back on their feet to ensure there are no holes in the defensive line.
Jones says his players have improved hugely in this area since last year but remain “seven per cent” behind New Zealand. “I think some of the blokes had a cup of tea and a scone with jam and cream before they got off the ground,”
Jones added. “It was terrible. Just go back and have a look at some of the early tapes and you will see it. The improvement has been enormous.
“In terms of getting off the ground we are seven per cent below New Zealand. We are still not where we need to be.”
An insight into the intensity of their training sessions came from England captain Dylan Hartley, who remarkably claimed that Tuesday’s session at Pennyhill Park had been more draining than the effort required to snatch victory against Wales.
“It was definitely [harder],” said Hartley, himself replaced after 46 minutes because England identified that his work rate had dropped. We train fast and it’s not just helter skelter or unstructured. It’s all planned and researched.
“We have a great performance team who, with Eddie, create these sessions where we run more metres in a Test match. Make more contacts and collisions. Make more reloads off the floor so we create these training sessions that are harder than a game.
“The running is secretly being upped, as is the ball in play at training. Water breaks are cut from 30 seconds to 20. It gives us confidence knowing we have trained to a greater intensity. You can’t replicate the game scenarios totally, though. You have to be on the money.”
And they were. Just.
And yet, when Jonathan Davies hooked his clearance kick into the hands of the grateful George Ford, England’s ferocious workload ensured they had one final shot a victory. They converted it majestically when Ford and Farrell combined to allow Elliot Daly to use his acceleration to round the hapless Alex Cuthbert.
“We’re a fit side now,” added Jones. “How many games out of our last 15 wins have we won in last 20 minutes? That’s not by coincidence. It’s because we train to win those last 20 minutes. “We back ourselves. Wales were the benchmark team in Europe for winning games in the last 20 minutes. Now we’ve beaten them three times in a row so maybe we deserve that title.”
— The Telegraph Group Ltd, London 2017
