We ve also chosen a different approach to some of the other nations by choosing not to play any warm up games. The reason being, I think we can simulate enough drills and enough game-related activities to compensate for games. Again, my fear factor with playing games was that if you lose a player, you ll probably never forgive yourself. I chose to go the other way and look at the other end of the spectrum, I suppose, and felt we ve already had a number of pullouts, so I really can t afford to have any more. Of course, that can still happen in training.
Someone can rip a calf or a hamstring or roll an ankle.
But the chances of that are less likely than if you actually play a practice match. Looking at some of the opposition that the teams are playing, I m not convinced that they ll get a lot out of it anyway, as compared to what you can actually achieve on the practice field. We ve seen Australia beat Papua New Guinea and a New Zealand Residents team, and I m not sure they got a lot out of those games, with the scorelines they put on. England are playing America and Wales are playing South Africa, but only time will tell whether they get any benefit from it. These are the things you have to consider when you re managing an international team.