What do you UK guys think of this guy Jason Robinson?
He’s only 5’7" and about a bit more than 180lb but this guy is powerful and frightning quick. Sure his technique doesn’t look as good as most sprinters, but virtually everything he does, the camera seems to be on fast forward.
Anyone know what kind of training he did to get like this? (was he always this powerful even early in his career playing league)
He’s probably one of the smallest men in the game but also one of the quickest.
Very impressive player. Fantastic when he was with the fabulous Wigan side of the mid 90s. One of the few players that didn’t get their speed taken out of them in the transition from League to Union… hold on, maybe that’s just in Australia 
Whatever happened to Martin “Chariots” Offiah?
I dunno that he’s all that quick, he couldn’t run down elton flately on his way to a runaway try last year in the England vs Aussie test match…
I agree, he reacts a bit slowly on defense at fullback (I remember Doug Howlett making a pretty good job of him too last year), but when he runs with the ball his acceleration is amazing. He is obviously not someone who would put down an amazing time in a 100m race, but his stride frequency, agility and pure acceleration over the first few metres is unmatched.
Anyone know how some of these guys train? From what I’ve heard, the conditioning programs in England rugby are very good (or at least they have access to a lot of resources). Apparently the national team’s management/coaching staff has as many personell as the touring squad itself.
I also remmber something about Jonny Wilkinson’s agility training program. What they did was hang up a lot of tackle bags (or punching bags) from ropes from the roof, and they would have them swinging in random directions all across the room. Jonny would then have to run across the room as quickly as possible while avoiding being cleaned out by a bag. Pretty good idea for improving reaction times, although you could argue about the cost/benefit ratio!
I read that story too David.
Wilkinsons training and mental approach to kicking is very impressive when you think of the experience he has even now.
I must admit the transformation of the whole English team in the past 10 years is remarkable in terms of professionalism.
I have heard stories at teh beginning of the new regime of some props bringing small scales with them into restaurants to weigh food.
For us Northern Hemi guys …
I know Lee Parore who is doing work with Michael Colgan trained some of the All-Blacks with great sucess.
He has published a book on Power Posture and also has published a book on his training with Zinzan Brooke.
The book by Robin McConnell about a year with the All Blacks is a very interesting read in terms of the pyschological approach and culture but don’t buy it to read any training secrets.
Yes I read Lee’s book regarding Zinzan’s training. Did not say much in terms of plyos/speed training, but it did mention that he used power cleans (and Zinzan did not like those). A lot of Lee’s work seems to be influenced by Paul Chek methods, eg. he showed a lot of core stability work with medicine balls and swiss balls. Chek’s methods are very popular with athletes over here.
Also a while back in NZ Fitness magazine was an article on the training of Mark ‘Sharkey’ Robinson (ex All Black half-back who was one of the most explosive half-backs in the game). He was trained by a trainer called Les Mills who is pretty well known around here (owns a chain of commercial gyms best known for celebreties that workout there).
It mentioned that he did a lot of plyometric work, jumping over hurdles (reebok step platforms) of various heights (in one continuous set). He seemed to do a minor strip set with power cleans. (Start with 100kg, then his trainer would wait until he started to lose speed on the reps, then take a plate off each side and do them with 60kg). Had a photo of him doing various parts of his training, one of him doing wide grip pull-ups with two 20kg plates from dip belt, and you guessed it, swiss ball work. He was squatting on a swiss ball doing some kind of upper body dumbell exercise. It must have worked for him, because this guy had tremendous core strength - you could just tell by the way he ran and moved around.
The RWC will be very interesting this year.
Hope to see just a little Brian O’Driscol Magic too!
But the real place to be ? …
Subiaco Oval - Friday October 24
robinson is as quick as anyone ever saw on a rugby field( a barry sanders a bit smaller…)…maybe good times for 60m indoor, but on the 100 i think lewsey and balchow of england are faster…also, look at howlett from new zealand…I think they all are in the 10"5 range…