• From: AFP
  • Thu Oct 22 15:43:40 EST 2009 Thu Oct 22 15:43:40 EST 2009



No 'gym monkey' ... England rugby union player Simon Shaw. Source: AFP




SIMON Shaw is convinced the drive for rugby players to be "gym monkeys'' is seeing skill sacrificed to strength and may be behind a concerning number of injuries already suffered in the northern season.


With just over a month of the season played, England manager Martin Johnson knows he will be without 12 players - six of them certain starters - for next month's Tests at Twickenham against Australia, Argentina and New Zealand.

The absentees include England's entire first-choice front-row and the fact several players are sidelined with shoulder injuries has re-opened the debate about whether modern rugby union, particularly in the tackle area, is placing unrealistic demands on players' bodies.

England lock Shaw, himself doubtful for the clashes against the Wallabies and the Pumas with a broken foot, said: "There is an argument that people are spending too much time in the gym, creating more of an athlete than a rugby player.''





Shaw, 36, who played for the British and Irish Lions during this year's losing tour of South Africa, added: "But there is a limit to how far you can stretch your body. There's a lot of pressure, especially on the young guys coming through, to be fitter, stronger and faster.

"That in turn makes them train harder in the gym to be physically stronger than the player who is currently holding that position,'' explained Shaw, who hopes to be fit to play against the All Blacks on November 21.

"But they should look at guys like Lawrence Dallaglio and Serge Betsen. Serge Betsen is not the strongest man in the world, he doesn't lift a lot of weights. He's not even the fittest guy on the training pitch.

"But when he goes out playing he never stops - he's got an incredible engine. Lawrence as well was never that great in the gym. We shouldn't be trying to create gym monkeys with technique, we should be trying to create rugby players.''

Many observers have cited the number of games top players are expected to take part in during the course of a season as a key factor when looking at the reasons for injuries.

However, Shaw said the expectation upon players to maintain peak fitness throughout a lengthy season was an often overlooked aspect of the injury debate and cited the wretched fitness record of England outside-half Jonny Wilkinson since the 2003 World Cup final as evidence.

"I don't necessarily think the game is the cause of all the injuries, rather the length of the season,'' said the 52-times capped Shaw. "Everyone bangs on about the amount of games people are expected to play, I don't even think it's that.


"It's the expectation on the players to be fit for an entire season. Whether they are playing or not is almost irrelevant. I don't want to be critical of the system but you meet up very early on in the season and the expectation is that you have reached a certain level of fitness by that stage.

"It's like the Jonny Wilkinson syndrome when he would train through his summer holidays. People question Jonny's fitness record but that might be as a result of the amount of training he did.''

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