Six Nations Has To Finish Next Season Now

I am feeling sorry for the Six Nations teams who have no clue when the next game is going to happen.Surely with some teams having to complete two matches now I can't see it happening this season.You can't just suck dates out of thin air as teams take time to get up to speed and need advance notice weeks in advance.

Training is like clockwork when you are involved in a tournament as each day after and before the next game has a set game plan. Teams are so routined in what has to happen and how it happens and on which day. This may sound odd to anyone but there are structures that succesful teams follow to get the desired results. Personally I would love to have had this when I played as what we did seemed so amateurish to what happens today.

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We had something similar to this scrum machine ,but probably three times the size of its modern day counterpart. Everything is better and more advanced now.

Normally teams who have played on a Saturday will have downtime on Sunday and Monday as it is all about muscle recovery so massages and ice baths would be the order of the day and doing very little else. Tuesday is a light practice with possible walk throughs on moves that will be practiced later in the week.

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The training equipment has advanced so much. This bag is worn on a players back so players can run into him whilst catching a high ball.

Wednesday and Thursday is the crunch time as things get more physical. Teams like to get you into match day readiness by training you hard before doing moves so you think as though you are fatigued already. This simulates game play much more so everything becomes a natural thought process. A day for a rugby team would start at around 7.30 am with pre breakfast exercises followed after breakfast with various specialist coaches finishing late in the afternoon.. People don't realise the amount of training that goes into preparing a team for one match and it is really full on and intense.

Having set your mind on matches that are now postponed leaves you in limbo land as you have to leave the international set up and go and play club rugby. The intensity is very different and it must be difficult to fall back into that way of life.

I think it is easier for teams playing in something like a World Cup rather than a smaller tournament like the Six Nations. The World Cup is something you prepare for months in advance and then spend 10 weeks as one big family. The Six Nations has two games on consecutive weekends followed by a two week break followed by 3 more games.

With the Corona Virus creating so much uncertainty it has left some teams with two games still to play and others with just one. The problem I see is the Six Nations will be completed just before the November Internationals as this would make the most sense.

Teams would have to start their international build ups from scratch which will most likely be over a two week period before the first match. The set ups each team will differ, but we all know England have the best set up at Penny Hill Park where they have been using this base for the last 17 years or so.

As a sportsmen you can only appreciate what they have with a little envy as I know other teams don't have half of the toys they have at their disposal.What they spend on their facility each season is more than some teams budgets for the squad of players.

If the games are moved out to the start of next season players places are not guaranteed and there will most likely be some new faces involved. This is always the case as there are bound to be injuries and retirements the next time we see these teams run out.

My head still says England will now win the tournament and deservedly so as the French had it and threw it away. You don't normally get a second chance at this level and they are a young team and need to learn from this for next year.