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How is every Team Preparing For the World Cup?! Analysis · The Rugby Muscle Podcast

• 0:00
  All right, so we are just a couple weeks away now from the start of the rugby world cup Let's take a look at what teams have been doing to get to this point.
• 0:09
  They're in their final preparations, but what have they been doing up until now?
• 0:13
  And what significant role will that play in how they perform?
• 0:18
  Let's take a look at it now.
• 0:25
  So what's going on everyone?
• 0:26
  It's Teacher here from Rugby Muscle.
• 0:28
  And like I said, today's video is going to be something that I haven't seen touched on.
• 0:32
  Uh, I think it's something a little bit different.
• 0:34
  It's something that I do think is very important.
• 0:37
  And that's something that we do here at Rugby Muscle.
• 0:39
  Is find things that people...
• 0:40
  Haven't really looked at and understand its importance and the impact it has on your game namely strength and conditioning fitness stuff gym stuff all of the Links for which you will find in the different ways that you can work with me in the description Below if you enjoy this video at any point give it a thumbs up really does help out and if you are new to the channel Hit subscribe and of course smash that like button.
• 1:03
  It's very important.
• 1:04
  It does help the channel grow so First things first, we're gonna we're gonna touch on every single team in this video So because I uh, I forgot japan in the last one and I thought right this one I'm, just going to include everyone and I want to look at what the teams have been doing basically for the year up until this point so By the time the Rugby World Cup starts, we'll be nine months into 2023.
• 1:27
  That's a long time and it's something that each team has, kind of the way their schedule works, has to use differently.
• 1:35
  And you'll see that develop as the video goes on.
• 1:37
  But first and foremost, we'll look at the six, uh, lowest ranked teams.
• 1:42
  Georgia might be higher ranked than some of the other, than some of the others actually, but, the teams that aren't in the, The Pacific Nations Cup, the Six Nations, or the Rugby Championship.
• 1:52
  So, here we're looking at Georgia, Uruguay, Portugal, Romania, Chile, and Namibia.
• 1:59
  Namibia, I'll admit, I've got the least amount of information from.
• 2:03
  But, I think the advantage that these teams have going into the World Cup is that they're just going to be peaked for this time.
• 2:09
  So I think that this is, this is something that's important for them.
• 2:13
  and I think that, the longer we've gone on the higher level of rugby, particularly the higher level of professionalism that you've seen.
• 2:18
  You've seen a bigger gap, but now I actually think that that gap is slowly, but surely decreasing because all of these teams, aside from I think Namibia, will have some level of professional domestic rugby, and they'll also on top of that have some level of national professionalism with their national team as well, so I think that's important and I think these teams are because of that Can have a level of a little bit more closer and consistent training particularly when we're looking at chile and uruguay Because basically they've got their national teams Performing in the super rugby americas.
• 2:57
  I think that's something that is important portugal, I think and romania have a couple teams that are in the The Europe Cup and as do Georgia, I think they have Black Dragons.
• 3:07
  So they've got a similar advantage to like what Scotland has.
• 3:10
  In that they've got a, just a couple teams to pick from.
• 3:13
  And that means that these teams, the players are often already closer together.
• 3:16
  And I do think that matters.
• 3:17
  You've also got all of these teams, I think, have some players that are playing high level in France.
• 3:24
  If you have teams that, even though they are together, they've got some really outstanding, talented players, it serves those really outstanding, talented players to go and play abroad.
• 3:33
  And Portugal have got a couple players that are in France, so do Georgia, so do Uruguay, so I think that's something that can give them the edge.
• 3:40
  And then there are some that are just playing like domestic level like pro data Championship in england from these countries.
• 3:47
  So I don't know what bearing that will have It just might make it a little bit more awkward for those guys to Be in the squad and be around it and have that impact that I was Talking about but I thought I wanted to address these teams if anyone I wanted to like I can't spend hours and hours preparing for this video If anyone does have extra information on these teams put them in the comments below Uh that would really help out and I think we'd all Enjoy reading and discovering more about these teams as we go into the world cup So, now we're going to look at key dates of the different teams in the different competitions.
• 4:20
  Firstly, we've got the teams that are in the Pacific Nations Cup.
• 4:24
  That started from 22nd of July and it went on till the 5th of August.
• 4:30
  So, two weeks ago.
• 4:33
  Uh, I think this is important because that's given them enough time to get some good level rugby.
• 4:39
  They've all played each other once.
• 4:41
  Uh, without too much travel, without too much awkwardness.
• 4:44
  And with also probably without too much riding on the games.
• 4:47
  Ahead of the pacific nations cup all of these teams would have a large squad to prepare for this tournament and ahead of the world cup But they might have even been training together a little bit longer than that.
• 4:56
  Let's take in each team quickly individually.
• 4:58
  Japan will have had obviously all of their players playing I think all of their players in their current squad play in the japan domestic league which means Traditionally they did I know they did this for 2015 and 2019.
• 5:11
  They had a lot more control over their playing squad so they could govern whether their team whatever their national team players played that much at all for their club side.
• 5:22
  I'm not sure if that's the case this year.
• 5:24
  I know they had a lot more spot, they had a lot more funding previously.
• 5:27
  So that might not be the case.
• 5:29
  Again, I don't know.
• 5:29
  So let me know in the comments below, but I think, um, they don't seem as tight together as they, or as dangerous as they once were.
• 5:37
  And that might be one of the reasons.
• 5:40
  Whereas if you look at Fiji, they've almost had the opposite effect.
• 5:43
  Traditionally, Fiji would have been, a group, that comes together at the last minute from players all over the world.
• 5:50
  Now, because they've got the Fijian drua in the, in Super Rugby, and they actually did really well in that competition, they've almost been preparing as, almost as a national team, you know, since that, since the start of Super Rugby, which was, what, early February.
• 6:06
  And I think that's key.
• 6:07
  I think that makes a big difference in the quality of their preparation.
• 6:11
  And then you sprinkle in the, you know, the ones that have been in Europe, unlike the, what I mentioned earlier.
• 6:16
  They're not having any guys that are in Prodi or the lower levels.
• 6:19
  They're, they're all at the top.
• 6:21
  You know, you semi RAs, uh, Joss Jos to Sova, uh, to Albert Tsui.
• 6:27
  All of these guys are like really valuable players for their team and they are playing really well at the highest level.
• 6:34
  So I think that's only going to boost their squad rather than sort of mess with the Grahesion.
• 6:38
  Samara and Tonga, they're a bit of a mixed bag.
• 6:42
  They've got some players, both of those two, have around half of their squad or so or maybe a little bit less, actually quite a bit less, from, the Moana Pacifica team, and then they've got again, guys coming in from overseas, a lot from New Zealand and a bunch from Europe.
• 7:00
  We'll see how, how this, this, uh, preparation goes for them.
• 7:04
  But I think the fact that they all played a good, uh, level of Pacific Nations Cup before going into the World Cup is crucial for them.
• 7:13
  They've also opted for a couple warm up matches, I think.
• 7:15
  I know Fiji are playing on the 19th of August.
• 7:18
  I think the rest of them are all just playing that one game in France to prepare.
• 7:23
  And then they get right into it.
• 7:24
  So it's going to be interesting to see.
• 7:26
  Traditionally, these teams have, have come at the World Cup more prepared than ever.
• 7:31
  And I think this, this year may be even more prepared than ever, ever.
• 7:34
  Ever, ever, ever.
• 7:35
  And I think that's why I see these teams doing a little bit better.
• 7:39
  And that's specifically talking about the, the three Pacific Island nations.
• 7:43
  Japan, I just don't know yet.
• 7:44
  I think if anything, they might have taken a bit of a morale hit from how they performed.
• 7:49
  in the, Pacific nations cup coming third.
• 7:52
  And the only team that they beat was Tonga, which were not at their best in, in the tournament.
• 7:59
  Japan have the luxury of having a bit of a weaker group, with just England and Argentina, which they could upset both of those teams.
• 8:06
  And again, they could.
• 8:08
  They could still lose to Samoa and you know, who knows where this goes I could talk about this forever, but Let's not let's move on to the six nations team So the six nations teams their preparation has been a little bit different.
• 8:20
  I think the six nations was treated as a separate Competition.
• 8:26
  I don't think anyone held anything back from the six nations.
• 8:30
  In order to prepare for the World Cup except maybe for England and for Wales where they had a new coach I know Warren Gatlin comes in And he's not exactly new, but he's new in terms of he hasn't been there for a few years and he's got to, like, re, re establish himself with these players because all of his favorite players, uh, got a little bit too old.
• 8:52
  England obviously with Borthwick, and so they had no choice.
• 8:55
  I don't think they purposely sacked off the six nations in order to prepare for the world cup But I do think that they just they weren't ready for the six nations and they're only going to get better from there Ireland and france came into the six nations.
• 9:08
  Absolutely roaring and um Aside from one half where ireland seemed to dominate france Both of those two teams are looking outstanding now with that being said I think the domestic rugby can play a player factor here because obviously ireland based most of their teams out of Munster and Ulster.
• 9:29
  I mean, Ulster, Leinster.
• 9:32
  And Munster went on and won the, uh, the URC.
• 9:37
  Leinster is actually more of the Ireland squad than Munster.
• 9:39
  So I, whether that's a good thing for morale or not is still yet to be seen because I think if Leinster had gone on and won it, that would be perfect for Ireland because they, that's the majority of their squad.
• 9:49
  That's them being perfectly prepared.
• 9:50
  With, with Munster winning it, I don't know whether they smile and start to question themselves.
• 9:55
  I don't think they do, but it's, it's worth, having a thought about it.
• 9:59
  It might even be better for them because unlike the English teams, and the French teams, where they are playing, you know, as best they can right up until the end of May.
• 10:11
  The irish have a lot of influence on their selection throughout the year So they're not going to be anywhere near as tired.
• 10:16
  They all most of these teams will have started their camp around June 18th, I think from the research i've done And I think that's a perfect amount of pre season to go into it They've you know, eight ten ten ish weeks before the world cup starts.
• 10:31
  That's a really good time together That's a really good period of time.
• 10:34
  The only problem I see with Particularly with England and France here is that they've just got off of a real tough domestic season They don't have too much of a break and then they're right back into it, you know, and I think that I don't know.
• 10:48
  I don't know what sort of effect that might have whether they Like deliberately slowly build up is one thing or whether they're just gonna potentially for england, they have the luxury of coasting through the group stage a little bit more and maybe france do as well And so that might allow these two teams to not quite be firing come September 8th and September 9th, but actually take the four to five week group stage as almost another mini preseason or post preseason Brock to get ready for the real action, which is semifinal and final.
• 11:25
  So we'll see how that all plays out.
• 11:29
  Scotland are a little bit more unknown, they've got a little bit more togetherness with the teams coming from, uh, or most of their players coming from Edinburgh and Glasgow.
• 11:38
  But they do still have quite a few that are overseas, they have a little bit less control than the Welsh and the Irish over their team, but they have probably a good chunk more control than the English do.
• 11:50
  I'm not sure as much about the French anymore because it seems like they're a little bit more together we'll see how much of an effect this has But it's interesting to look at because obviously if you go from the start of the six nations And you don't take lots of deliberate breaks in there.
• 12:06
  That's almost pretty full on with maybe like a three To four to five week break after the end of the domestic season But it's pretty full on from the beginning of february all the way to uh, september World cup goes through all the way through to october, you know That might fatigue might end up paying a factor or the fact that it's a little bit longer Gives those sides, you know the opportunity and the knowledge that they need to take deliberate breaks in and around this season, whether that's a good thing or a bad thing, who knows?
• 12:36
  Again, this is, this is just another interesting fact to see how this World Cup is going to play out because you can't just judge this by, Oh, this team is better than this team.
• 12:44
  It's all about preparation with the talent that you have.
• 12:47
  And that's why, you know, some teams outperform others.
• 12:52
  Then we've got two teams here that are a little bit of a mixed bag.
• 12:54
  Um, South Africa.
• 12:56
  You know, now they're in the URC.
• 12:58
  They're on a bit more of an alliance season with the rest of Europe, which actually helps because they, you know, they do have a bunch of players that are in France, that are in England.
• 13:06
  Uh, I think they'll have a few that are in Ireland and maybe Scotland.
• 13:11
  Although most of the South Africans that are in Scotland are actually just playing for Scotland.
• 13:15
  But they've also got a bunch that are in Japan which has been running again all the way through from December to April That season's been pretty full on.
• 13:22
  But is it the level that these team these players need to keep up their standards?
• 13:27
  Maybe maybe these guys are just that talented that it doesn't really matter They then got together.
• 13:32
  They had no six nations or no.
• 13:33
  I think Argentina actually did have a camp in the spring 2023 or the northern hemisphere spring.
• 13:40
  And I think they did have that in France.
• 13:43
  So that might have indicated a factor as to how they went in the championship, but I don't think they overly performed as well as they'd hoped but maybe they are building because all these teams have got together For or these two teams have got together for the rugby championship that started at the 8th of july And has gone through well technically to the 29th of july, but they also both australia and new zealand and um, The spring box and argentina played that extra game on the end on the 5th of August and then all of them will play, I think, one game before the World Cup starts.
• 14:16
  So interesting to see how this approach is going to do.
• 14:19
  Obviously the Springboks are almost like what I described with Fiji.
• 14:23
  So they've got players from everywhere.
• 14:25
  They have got a good domestic scene.
• 14:27
  And if they just relied on only their domestic players.
• 14:29
  They would still be phenomenal.
• 14:31
  They've had a few players that have had no choice but to drop Even though they've done really well.
• 14:35
  I think evan russ I feel always feel sorry for that guy because I think that guy's got so much talent But he's also in like the back row of death as far as like spring boxes just churn out back rows about the back rows and front rows as well, but this one It's, it's difficult to see how much of a factor this is going to be.
• 14:52
  I always think my biggest concern with the Springboks is that they haven't got that consistency.
• 14:57
  Argentina, on the other hand, even though they don't have the Jaguares, that, like, probably did help them a lot throughout the preparation for the 2019 World Cup.
• 15:08
  In fact, ahead of the 2019 World Cup, the Jaguares got all the way to the Super Rugby final.
• 15:13
  And then Argentina went out of the group stage.
• 15:15
  So maybe that's not a good indication.
• 15:17
  It's always good to see how this stuff Either matters or doesn't we're not really sure right?
• 15:21
  The biggest thing of this I think is The Springboks that are playing in Japan, have they had enough time to get up to the level that they need to, to go and win a World Cup?
• 15:30
  Or, has playing in Japan actually helped them, because they've been able to, you know, get themselves rid of all the fatigue and stuff that would, they would have been grinding through, if, say, that, for example, they're in the English Premiership, a week after week, or, they wouldn't have even been grinding out in the URC, because, again, URC, Sometimes they send out their second teams and they get a little bit more taken care of than they would have done, you know, if they're growing now in France or in England, so.
• 15:57
  We'll see how this goes.
• 15:58
  I'm, I'm not overly sure what bearing this is going to have, but I know it's going to be a factor.
• 16:03
  And then lastly, we're looking at the Wallabies and the All Blacks.
• 16:07
  Uh, Wallabies are a little bit different from normal.
• 16:09
  They've actually got a good few players coming in from Europe.
• 16:12
  Probably they're better players that are coming in from Europe, and that's why they've had to...
• 16:15
  Not just only picked from their domestic players because some of their best players are in Europe and are in Japan.
• 16:21
  Whereas the All Blacks are only picking from their Super Rugby players.
• 16:25
  And I think they've even got even more control.
• 16:28
  So they've started from early February and they've been slowly building.
• 16:31
  Super Rugby's been pretty brutal.
• 16:34
  Maybe that's going to be a factor because rather than you know, the premiership where we've started from september of last year and gone all the way through this has only been from february It's been a little bit more full on a lot more travel involved with the super rugby teams Particularly with moana pacifico and the fiji and drew in but probably less now that the sapphires are in there Maybe that's also a factor something.
• 16:55
  I haven't considered.
• 16:56
  Maybe that's a factor for for the guys that have been Doing that brutal schedule for the URC, but then again, maybe not because I'm going back and forth here But maybe not because more often than not if they're going to South Africa this in their second team So it's not as not as important.
• 17:12
  So let's just drop that point.
• 17:13
  Let's just go step back to the date So rugby championship has been once again from the 8th to the 29th, but then they played the extra bed It's on the 5th of August All blacks look like they're peaking as well as they could peak and I think they're going into it They just have to maintain this level now Going all the way through September and August, and ideally all the way for them, all the way through to the final Wallabies.
• 17:36
  I think Eddie Jones is still trying to build, he's still figuring out probably his best team, which isn't great, but luckily for him, they're in a bit of a weaker group and should be able to get through to that.
• 17:46
  And then when they're in a quarter final, they've got a lot more of a winnable game, whether that's gonna be England, Argentina, maybe even samo or Japan.
• 17:54
  And then they're in the semi final and you saw what Eddie Jones did to the All Blacks in 2019 in the semi final.
• 18:00
  Maybe he can pull that off with the Wallabies.
• 18:02
  And I think if there's one squad that you think can get it together for a game, it is the Wallabies.
• 18:06
  They somehow always seem to, to pluck it out.
• 18:09
  And I wouldn't completely rule out their chances ahead of this one.
• 18:12
  So that's the team's preparation.
• 18:15
  That's how their seasons have looked up until now.
• 18:18
  What situation would you prefer to be in?
• 18:21
  Does this make any difference in the teams that you are backing to win the world cup?
• 18:25
  Love to hear your feedback.
• 18:26
  Let get involved in the comments below subscribe If you're new we're going to do a new world cup video every single week on this channel If you want to learn how to train as best yourself all the links for that stuff will be in the description below Thumbs up if you haven't done so already and i'll see you guys in the next one Outro music plays softly