With the Wallabies’ loss to Samoa, an under-strength Bok side, and an All Black Tri-Nations team that will no doubt be throwing caution to the wind when it comes to the injury of their golden boys, the issue of player fatigue at the top level in a World Cup year has come to the forefront.
Patrick Lambie - Springboks
There is a lot of moaning, blaming and explaining going on in all three camps and there seem to be common factors at the heart of it all.
More rugby is being played, more injuries are occurring and teams are looking after their own backsides at the expense of results and value for money for fans. No one seems to have a solution.
In my mind, what is required is an objective, standardised and agreed upon system of game time measurement, not just for the Tri-Nations but across the board.
As the careers of players become increasingly unknown, there is a need for the IRB to begin taking more control and directing the measurement and management of player fatigue and burnout, for the good of the players, the teams and the sport in general.
In an age where conditioning is improving in leaps and bounds with the possibility to measure pretty much anything simultaneously; there is a need for a united and objective measure of how much work these players are doing.
With such a measure, boundaries could be set across the board based on more than just the number of games played. Players could be assessed according to position and individual output across the season.
As such the issue of sending under-strength teams would no longer be a matter of opinion but a standard and stated measure and justification of who is, or is not, fit to be there.
We already have teams using GPS in games and the IRB has approved the use of such measuring devices but a more comprehensive and standardised system which takes into account all aspects of physical output and stress is required.
Action needs to be taken by the IRB to explore options and protect all parties.
With the prospect of a meaningless Tri-Nations ahead of the World Cup, some transparency would be of great benefit to the game, its players and its fans, not to mention the possible commercial value of having such information available.
