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#Post#: 69057--------------------------------------------------
Revealed: The secret to Harlequins stunning revival
DIR By: deadlyfrom5yardsout
Date: June 17, 2021, 6:12 am
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Revealed: The secret to Harlequins' stunning revival
Quins' use of 'smart' gumshields has reduced amount of contact
players take in training - and led to an unprecedented drop in
injuries
By
Kate Rowan (Telegraph)
16 June 2021 • 12:01pm
For the past four months, more and more players have been
donning white bibs at Harlequins’ training base at the Surrey
Sports Park in Guildford. To the outsider the change of colour
may seem fairly innocuous but its true meaning has not just
helped change the club’s fortunes this season; it could signify
a revolution in professional rugby.
The white bib is a sign that the player wearing it must not take
any contact, a decision which is made by coaches monitoring
impact data gathered by ‘smart’ gumshields. It has led to a
reduction in contact by up to 900 per cent, a day’s less
on-pitch training each week and an unprecedented drop in
injuries.
If anybody was wondering how Quins managed to turn around their
season, this is it. You would think that the club would be cagey
about the secret to their success in the week of their
Premiership semi-final against Bristol. But Danny Care, the
scrum-half who is in the form of his life aged 34, is eager to
explain. “I have seen ridiculous amounts of contact over my
career,” Care says. “I feel a lot of it is unnecessary.”
This groundbreaking ‘less-is-more’ approach comes from players
wearing Protecht gumshields, which are fitted with a microchip
that monitors the collisions a player takes to both the head and
the body. It is a British technology success story as they are
designed by Swansea-based Sports & Well-being Analytics to
create a database clubs can use to decide when players should
rest.
Gloucester and Leicester are also using Protecht as are Welsh
region Ospreys. But it is at Harlequins where the impact of the
technology has been most stark.
From the beginning of the conversation, Care is adamant that
player welfare demands that all clubs should adopt this
technology. As a former team-mate at Leeds of Steve Thompson,
Alix Popham and Dan Scarborough, who have all gone public with
their battles with dementia, for Care, this is personal.
“I have spanned quite a lot of the professional era because I am
so old now and a lot of the people who I have played with have
mild forms of dementia from repeat concussions,” he says. “A lot
of them are the guys who are going through the lawsuit. I played
with a lot of those lads at Leeds, I know them personally and I
know how rugby, the sport they loved and I love, can have really
bad consequences on health.
“So having seen that happen first-hand to people that I know,
when Protecht came and they had this invention that can fit into
a gumshield that can monitor how hard people are getting hit,
and how many times people are getting hit, I was like: ‘this is
mind-blowing!’ Why didn’t we have this back when I started? How
many of these lads wouldn’t have mild forms of dementia?
“As a rugby player, when you are training you don’t feel them
[collisions], unless it is a big one. So to have that real time
feedback you have taken too many hits is a massive game changer
and I hope the whole league and other leagues of rugby all get
involved in it.”
How Alex Dombrandt, Danny Care and Marcus Smith could sweep
Harlequins to Premiership glory
The long-term benefits are clear. But for Harlequins, there has
been an immediate and profound impact. “My body at 34 feels a
lot better than it did at 29, 30. I am not playing less rugby, I
am maybe playing a bit more,” Care says.
“As you get a bit older you need to look after yourself more. I
warm up a lot more than I did when I was younger. For me, taking
out a lot of contact during the week has made me available for
pretty much every game this year.”
As Mike Lancaster, Harlequins' head of medical services,
explains, the introduction of reduced contact training is one of
two major shifts at the club after the departure of former head
of rugby Paul Gustard in January.
“What we are doing now, in terms of how we changed the amount of
contact, is the second biggest change this season. We have more
players available and fit. It has been a major factor for how we
have performed.”
Care continues: “Mike, the medical team and the strength and
conditioners and coaches have been great at listening to the
advice, monitoring us, reducing the load and then we are getting
more of our best players playing at the weekend. It isn’t rocket
science. It is sensible, it is people’s lives, it is not just
their rugby careers. The players are human beings who need their
brains when they finish.”
Before speaking to Care, Lancaster suggests the 84-cap England
international should be asked where thinks the technology could
be used in the future. Again Care returns close to home, this
time citing his experiences as the father of a rugby-playing
child. His son Blake is six-and-a-half and his proud dad
believes he “has something about him” and “could make a decent
rugby player” - but, like many parents, he has concerns about
the safety of the sport.
“The safety of rugby does scare me with him. If somebody said to
me ‘would you rather your son play rugby or football?’ I would
say football because I feel football is safer. But with Protecht
coming into the game I genuinely think it is a game-changer.
“If even people like me are worried about their child playing,
then maybe there is an issue. Hopefully, this is the start of
something huge. I would love to be able to have this available
for kids and to be able to speak to other parents.”
Returning to Harlequins and their meeting with league toppers
Bristol on Saturday, Care believes the new approach to player
safety, welfare and training load is part of a wider shift at
the club he has called home for the past 15 years. “I think the
environment over the last few years wasn’t true to what Quins
really are,” he says.
“I think it was forcing us to be something that we are not. The
last four or five months was about going back to what our DNA is
and for me the key word about my time at Quins is fun. We enjoy
ourselves. And that has been our buzzword, come into work, enjoy
it, take the mickey out of each other, we train really hard and
we have a lot of fun.
“We go out there and back ourselves. I have loved every minute
of it and I would love to go for a title. That would be
incredible from where we were five, six months ago.”
#Post#: 69061--------------------------------------------------
Re: Revealed: The secret to Harlequins stunning revival
DIR By: Jay
Date: June 17, 2021, 6:34 am
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Thanks for posting that. Really interesting and explains why we
have gone from an injury prone team to one where we have most of
our players available most of the time.
Also if it develops into something cheap enough for age group
rugby to afford then it will be great for the game.
#Post#: 69064--------------------------------------------------
Re: Revealed: The secret to Harlequins stunning revival
DIR By: Bolly-Quin
Date: June 17, 2021, 7:30 am
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Not sure if the impact of footballers heading the ball was taken
into account by Danny - "because I feel football is safer" - and
the amount of lower leg injuries is also very high, but I'll
admit to not knowing the stats - anyone know the relative
impacts?
#Post#: 69065--------------------------------------------------
Re: Revealed: The secret to Harlequins stunning revival
DIR By: T-Bone
Date: June 17, 2021, 7:49 am
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Thanks for that. Good read. I've long thought that concussion
and collisions in training must be a much bigger issue than
those experienced during a match. I might be wrong, but I would
imagine that, until really recently, players taking knocks in
training wouldn't go for HIAs and be stood down. It's all very
well protecting them on a matchday, but they're likely to take
far more hits during the week. It's good to see this is now
being addressed.
Also good to hear that the atmosphere in camp is now better
Regardless of the result on Saturday, I don't think there can be
any argument that sacking Gustard was the right thing to do, and
that he was at least part of the problem
#Post#: 69069--------------------------------------------------
Re: Revealed: The secret to Harlequins stunning revival
DIR By: MadMax
Date: June 17, 2021, 8:14 am
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Interesting but it's rather simplistic and naïve to believe that
gumshields are the key to our revival in my opinion.
#Post#: 69071--------------------------------------------------
Re: Revealed: The secret to Harlequins stunning revival
DIR By: dinsdale
Date: June 17, 2021, 8:51 am
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--- Quote from: MadMax link ---
>
> Interesting but it's rather simplistic and naïve to believe
that gumshields are the key to our revival in my opinion.
>
--- End Quote ---
That's just the clickbait headline.
If the reduction in injuries is sustained and measurable then
it's a big deal, both for the competitiveness of the team and
the long term welfare of the players.
#Post#: 69073--------------------------------------------------
Re: Revealed: The secret to Harlequins stunning revival
DIR By: DOK
Date: June 17, 2021, 9:10 am
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Yes, there was a video I put up a while back on the medical team
and use of gumshields. It sounds dull as dishwater but actually
was absolutely fascinating. The next step would be to allow
monitoring in real time so the pitch side doctors can see if
someone is in danger. But a huge step in the right direction,
without a doubt.
#Post#: 69081--------------------------------------------------
Re: Revealed: The secret to Harlequins stunning revival
DIR By: MadMax
Date: June 17, 2021, 10:50 am
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--- Quote from: dinsdale link ---
>
> That's just the clickbait headline.
>
> If the reduction in injuries is sustained and measurable then
it's a big deal, both for the competitiveness of the team and
the long term welfare of the players.
>
--- End Quote ---
Agree with the latter and wouldn't ever suggest it wasn't a big
deal it's just that it isn't the only reason.
That's the problem with clickbait headlines they tend to detract
from the actual article.
#Post#: 69086--------------------------------------------------
Re: Revealed: The secret to Harlequins stunning revival
DIR By: SiB
Date: June 17, 2021, 11:16 am
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A good read, although I would possibly suggest a certain change
at the top has had far more impact
#Post#: 69092--------------------------------------------------
Re: Revealed: The secret to Harlequins stunning revival
DIR By: poorfour
Date: June 17, 2021, 12:28 pm
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--- Quote from: SiB link ---
>
> A good read, although I would possibly suggest a certain
change at the top has had far more impact
>
--- End Quote ---
Perhaps a chip in his mouth guard recommended that he be stood
down as DoR?
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