This book is average and at best you might find a few drills/exercises that are useful. The author understands the speed and agility training quite well with the principles of long recoveries but he fails understand the importance of tempo training. He states that during the season he doesn’t need any aerobic work. I tend to disagree, I think it is very valuable for recovery. The only drills I found useful are the deceleration drills ( run at various speeds btwn 50-100% and then stop as fast as possible) and the hollow sprints (jog 5 yds, sprint 5 yds, jog 10 yds, sprint 10 yds focusing on changing gears). Other than that, the book is fairly basic and doesn’t go into any detail about periodization for athletes which is one of the most important aspects.
Why do you feel that aerobic work is needed in season? The only position that I see as needing significant amounts of aerobic training in season would be the flanker. Everyone else performs short bouts of all out max effort when they have the ball or are tackling. Scrums, mauls and rucks will push into the anaerobic glycolytic system using an explosive effort followed by a max effort drive (often repeated when pack momentum is acheived). Aerobic training should be completed in the GPP. As a side note, “Supertraining” states that the energy cost for rugby lie within:
90% short-term (ATP-CR)
10% Intermediate (Anaerobic)
0% Long-term (Aerobic)
By aerobic work I mean tempo training not long 5 mile runs. When you work on your aerobic capacity through tempo, your body will use fat more effeciently as a fuel source instead of glucose, thus giving you more reserves for short-term bursts of exercise.
In the CFTS, tempo is always incorporated in every training segment.
I am obviously unfamiliar with your definition of “aerobic” training, so it is safe to say that I am unfamiliar with your definition of tempo training. Please elaborate so that I can understand where you are coming from.
Runs at 75% or less with breaks between runs, for example
run 100m, 30 sec rest, run 100, 30 sec rest, run 100,…
Breaks of 1 min between sets…
For a total volume of 2000-2500 meters per workout.
Rugby players aren’t sprinters though. I assume we are talking about Ben Luger here and you have to remember he is a professional player with a very high volume of in season of work.
I would be surprised if he needed extra aerobic work in season.
I still don’t see how you consider this aerobic training. If an athlete is not fit enough to handle this amount of work, it can turn into aerobic work. But an inseason competitive rugby player should have the capacity to perform this work utilizing their anaerobic energy systems. I agree with you that this type of a workout would work well within the inseason conditioning though. I would also recommend Fartlek training, as a rugby player will typically run about 5- 10 meters at a time before he passes the ball or is smashed into the ground. The distance and time variables while possessing the ball are vastly different, so Fartlek training is an excellent fit for Rugby.
It’s actually Dan Luger and Paul Pook… maybe some relation to Ben
5.15am…BING!!! it’s Dan Luger not Ben 
You are using fat as an energy source, therefore it is aerobic.
Aerobic actually means you’re using oxygen.
Thank you speed.
Didn’t get back to the post quick enough to respond.
That’s great!
What is the energy source when you perform aerobic activity? Fat…
By the way, since we’re being all smart guys here. This post makes absolutely no since and you have no clue what you’re talking about when it comes to energy systems.
-If an athlete isn’t fit enough to handle the workout then it would be ANAEROBIC for him.
-An inseason competitive rugby player should have the capacity to perform this work utilizing their AEROBIC energy systems
Blinky,
don’t get all shitty because you made a mistake and someone corrected it.
I agree with Firebird I would also recommend Fartlek training, as a rugby player will typically run about 5- 10 meters at a time before he passes the ball or is smashed into the ground. The distance and time variables while possessing the ball are vastly different, so Fartlek training is an excellent fit for Rugby.
Who has no idea about their energy systems? I have a pretty good handle on my physiology.
If the athlete becomes fatigued and the muscles are depleted of energy stores, the athlete will slow down and the aerobic system will kick in. To work the anaerobic system during your tempo runs, an unfit athlete would have to increase the rest intervals as time went on so that the body has adequate time to recover from the previous bout.
the tempo runnigng that you refered to was a short sprint followed by a recovery phase. Towards the end of the routine, the oxidative system will be used to a degree, but the majority of the energy is produce through anaerobic means (in a trained athlete). An inseason rugby player should have the speed-strength endurance to perform this work utilizing mostly the anaerobic energy systems.
Please don’t get defensive. we’re all just discussing training theories. If you think we are wrong, just say so without getting all s***y, as John C-S so eloquently put it.
My apologies for the rudeness, I had just broken my sunroof and it was pouring out. 
Here is my perspective on these quotes, correct my line of thinking if needed:
“If an athlete isn’t fit enough to handle the workout then it would be ANAEROBIC for him.”
By an untrained, I am refering to an athlete who is inefficient at burning fat and thus uses glucose as a main fuel source. Since this athlete is inefficient at burning fat, he will use glucose for any activities performed at say, 50% or higher. Therefore, he is working in an anaerobic zone if he performs the tempo runs.
While a trained athlete can train at 75% of their max for tempo runs and be using fat as the main energy source since they are efficient at fat burning.
“An inseason competitive rugby player should have the capacity to perform this work utilizing their AEROBIC energy systems”
A competitive rugby player should be able to perform these tempo runs using fat as the main energy source because they are able to burn fat more efficiently and thus at a higher intensity of their maximum.