Otago Rugby Union eNewsletter

Editorial

Good evening Otago supporters & welcome to our weekly newsletter

It's been a busy week in the Otago Rugby offices. The 2021 Otago NPC Squad were announced this week and we can't wait for NPC footy to get underway!!! Check out the full story and Squad list below.

Tomorrow night The All Blacks will take on Fiji at Forsyth Barr Stadium, so if you haven't already, make sure you lock in your tickets and get down to the stadium early to be sure you don't miss the pre game Anthem's and Haka under the roof!

School Holidays are fast approaching and we have Norwood community day open to all junior rugby players to keep them busy! Held at Taieri RFC, Peter Johnstone Park on the 13th July at 3.30-5.00 pm. Bring boots, mouth guard, warm clothes & water bottle. Get the kids involved in this awesome opportunity to learn skills & drills with the Otago Players! See you all there!

Season Memberships are now on sale! Membership forms can be located on our website here. If you wish to renew your membership or sign up for the first time you have until 5 August to lock in your seat.

We have been delighted to see the response to our "For the Love of Club" initiative! Otago supporters can purchase tickets to all 5 Otago home games now on Ticketek. When purchasing be sure to enter the promo code for your club or the Otago Referees Association. A list of all clubs and referees promo codes can be found at the bottom of the page here see more on how much will be contributed and how to make your purchase below!

Our Website has had a makeover and we couldn't be happier about it! Go check it out for yourself, for all things Otago Rugby click here.

Grand Final

Goats v Rams

Cromwell have not lost a game this season, in fact they have a 21 game winning streak so they must go into the Grand Final as favourites. They have home advantage and like many great side have fantastic supporters and sponsors. Their game plan won’t change much for the final and with no major injuries, they are preparing to roll their sleeves up and do the mahi one last time. The Goats have talent across the park, with the inside pairing of Ben Maxwell and Reece Harold key to their success. Jackson Clark, hooker, Stefan Blakebourugh, lock and Jim Naloqi in the midfield have also been playing well. Cromwell have been here before and so it will take a special performance to topple them this year.

Rams coach Gary- John Hape is very excited for his team and just wants his players to soak up and enjoy finals footy. He talked about the support the team has received from the club, supporters, sponsors and township in general. He paid tribute to his sides hard work, focus, camaraderie, and culture. Inspirational lock/loosie, Ben Carter has suffered a season ending injury and will be a major lose for the Rams. Many members of the forward pack have been named in a social media form fifteen, including the whole front row and locks Lachie Garrett and Matt Ward so the battle up front should be a good one. Brady Kingan at halfback is a crucial member of this side, his general play is very good and his goal kicking wins matches. Look for the Rams to try something a little different in order to break down the well-oiled Goats machine.

Metro Match of the Round - Zingari-Richmond vs Kaikorai

Hard to have a match of the round in the penultimate weekend of Speight’s Metropolitan Premier rugby with so many possibly outcomes the calculator will be out at 4pm on Saturday. For those in the middle of the park however they can’t be thinking to far ahead other than their opponents and getting the right outcome in their match. Kaikorai head to Zingari Richmond in search of the maximum 5 points and the Tom Watkins Memorial which will hopefully see them lock in 2nd or 3rd dependent on other results, it’s a formidable pack with both Tucker and Knapp locking and Lio-Willie back from injury. For the Demons they will be hopeful of carrying momentum into the playoffs but they know a few of their key players will move into the Otago setup post the ¼ Finals. For the Dragons they will go down swinging as they did in the first half of their match vs Dunedin last week, they have a few guys wounded and are short up front however they could be team to throw an absolute spanner in the works. Lock yourself in for a ripper weekend

Round 14 Snapshot

Roxburgh vs West Taieri

Roxburgh appear to be playing their final game this season unless they can somehow wrangle some points from this fixture. The home team have just won the one game this season and with the bottom placed team missing out on post section play, Roxburgh are in dire straits. West Taieri haven’t confirmed a home semi-final yet, so will be fired up to get the job done early before potentially resting a few key players with the game wrapped up. After a fifty-point hiding last weekend, we could well be expecting another similar score line at Roxburgh.

Owaka vs Clutha

The Art Bloxham Cup is on the line as well as potential home semi-final positions for the winning teams. Owaka are gunning for a home semi-final in the bottom four as well as lifting the Art Bloxham cup for the first time in recent memory. Clutha had the bye last weekend which saw them slip to fourth with Heriot over taking them. Clutha are guaranteed a semi-final spot regardless of this result, but will still be fired up to finish the regular season on a high.

Clutha Valley vs Heriot

This match is especially intriguing because if this weekend’s results are true to form, the two will meet again in the semi-finals next week also. The McIntosh Cup is on the line so expect both teams to put out strong teams after giving players a rest last weekend. Valley’s strong second half saw them defeat Owaka. Heriot were far too strong for Roxburgh. This will be the match of the round without a doubt. Valley have already locked in first place and a home semi-final whereas Heriot are still jostling for position inside the top four.

Toko vs Clinton

An important match at Milton for both teams this weekend. Toko are still in with a sniff of hosting a bottom four semi-final but will need to secure points from a Clinton side who is still improving over the past weeks and have already beaten Toko once this season. Toko were soundly beaten by West Taieri last weekend but still managed to take positives out of the match. Clinton was beaten at home by Crescent but still showed their ability up front. Clinton will be facing off against Crescent again in a bottom four semi-final next weekend regardless, but will still fancy their chances of upsetting the Toko apple cart.

Stress, Friend or Foe?

As a coach you are often forced to wear many hats, technical tactical guru, fitness expert, mental skills coach, taxi driver and sometimes even therapist to name but a few.

Over the last 10 years in high performance sport one of the big shifts has been towards a more holistic approach to how athletes are viewed and supported. Why this shift towards a more holistic approach?

We are the sum of all our experiences, which is dictated largely by our environment. Therefore, our performance in any domain will be influenced by the wider context of what is happening in our lives.

An easy way to think about this concept is to consider how some of our lifestyle choices influence performance. Poor food choices or poor sleep habits will have a detrimental effect, pretty common sense, but what about things that may not be as obvious.

Your players are under financial stress or having relationship troubles… Could these mental emotional stressors affect performance? Short answer, yes.

Let’s keep it simple, all the common stressors fit into three buckets.

Bucket One – Physical

Training intensity
Training volume
Injuries
Muscular stiffness / tightness
Physical work
Sedentary work

Bucket Two – Lifestyle

Nutrition
Sleep
Hydration

Bucket Three – Mental Emotional

Financial stress
Relationship difficulties
School
Work
Parenting
Internal dialogue

These lists are a starting point and are by no means complete but serve to get the brain thinking about your specific context.

Stress is great, we need it to get better. Just think about when you go to the gym. You might do some cardio or weights which serve as stressor. If you get the volume and intensity right your body adapts, you get fitter and stronger.

If we do not respect where our body is at and we push too hard or for too long we end up down the other end of the continuum, we get distressed. Typically, this will look like a decrease in performance, we get injured or we get sick. If you really push it for a long time then eventually one day you don’t want to get out of bed, then you know you are really in trouble.

This is the same for all our buckets. Hit the sweet spot of not too much stress to bury us, but enough to stimulate growth, then we become more resilient and adaptable.

Where it gets interesting from a coaching point of view, is to consider each of the buckets influences the other, nothing works in isolation.

As an example.

You have a player that is under a lot of job stress (think mental/emotional bucket), this has been influencing sleep patterns, food choices and more alcohol consumption (think lifestyle bucket). Both buckets are almost full which does not leave much space in the physical bucket before we overflow and risk a decrease in performance, injury or getting sick.

In this situation the best thing we can do to get the most out of our player is control intensity and volume at training. Often what will happen is the player will still want to push hard at training because that drives some of our feel-good hormones to be released and lifts us for a short time before the eventual crash comes, bit of a vicious cycle.

As a coach we want to see our players as people first and rugby players second. Take the time to understand the other stressors in their lives and then manipulate training accordingly. If you know your players stress buckets or your own stress bucket is almost full think about how you tweak the buckets to reduce overall loading.

Let me know if there are any specific questions you’d like answered on the coaching front at aaron.callaghan@orfu.co.nz

Keep up the great work!!!

Cheers, Azza

2021 OTAGO NPC SQUAD ANNOUNCEMENT

Otago Rugby Football Union is proud to announce the 2021 Otago Squad for the Bunnings Warehouse NPC. Otago Head...

Shaun is the coach of Premier Womens team Pirate Wahine. he moved down, we asked to coach and has gone above and beyond. He has already become a part of the club committee. He is such a good sort around the club, he helps out wherever help is needed. Whether it's a burst pipe in the club's kitchen, it's never a bother. He is an amazing coach, always prepared and so full of knowledge to share while working alongside experienced Wahine players to ensure we're getting the best information possible.

We will be sending a 2021 Bunnings NPC season pass to you as our way to say thank you for all that you do to help our game and our community.

Shoutout to Christy for sending in the nomination!

Know of a coach who should be recognised for their efforts? Send in your nomination to aaron.callaghn@orfu.co.nz.

Match Day Programme - Metro, Central & Southern Region

Secondary Schools First XV Match Day Programme