Andy Friend (AF): Firstly thanks for having us here, it’s nice to see some of the faces that we see at every away game. The support you guys have been giving us is fantastic so we appreciate that. In terms of the way a normal week is run, given that we normally play on a Saturday.

The Sunday is off, we ask the boys to do a regen. session which is usually a pool recovery session or their own recovery session that may just be a stretch and a walk to get a good feed of bacon and eggs in the morning [laughs] but for others who need a bit more they will go to the pool and have a bit of a work out on a bike.

On the Monday we get them in, at the moment we’re training at a big sports arena in Sutton, so we all head over there and we work with the starting team and they do biometrics and a weights session. We split them into forwards and backs: the forwards will do weights and the backs will be with me looking at the video. Then we swap round and the forwards come in with John and do their video analysis and the backs go off to do weights. In the afternoon they do a cardio session, we’ve been changing it around in the last few weeks to make it a bit more interesting, we played dodgeball a few weeks ago and we have introduced a squash competition. There’s a ladder there, I think Jimmy Richards is top, isn’t he mate?

John Kingston (JK): Yes, he won the draw and started top but he won’t stay there.

AF: John is currently sitting above me in 7^th place but only because he got a lucky draw so I’ll be climbing up the ladder soon [laughs].

On the Tuesday we come in, it’s probably our biggest rugby day, we have a double session. We always start with a team meeting looking at the review of the game, it lasts about half an hour and we have some player input there and obviously coach input. Then we head out on the field and a Tuesday morning session is usually a unit session for half an hour. In the afternoon we head back out and we have a contact session for 60 or 70 minutes so the players have certainly earned their keep on the Tuesday.

On the Wednesday morning they come in and we do our defence session for about 90 minutes, we start with defence, then go into units and then do a team run. In the afternoon the players then head to do some weights at their own venue.

Thursday’s the players day off where they get a chance to recover as do we.

On Friday we do what’s called the Captain’s run which is always preceded by a review of the opposition we are about to play, John runs that and it takes about 10 or 15 minutes just looking at some key things in their game and how we want to play it. Then we head out on the field for a 40 minutes session – the Captain’s run. We discuss anything else they want to discuss and then they have the time off from then to get themselves right for Saturday.

So that’s a normal week given that it’s a Saturday to Saturday week.

Is there anything else to add?

JK: That’s pretty exhaustive. We do separate lineout analysis on the opposition as well which we go through at a meeting on the Wednesday morning. Other things that go on during the week: Andy and I have a kicking competition which I win most weeks [laughs]. And there’s also a considerable amount of banter about the demise of Australian sport as a whole which has been going on nicely for the past couple of weeks[laughs].

AF: For those that don’t know Australia did get to the Football World Cup yesterday for the first time since 1974. I did cheer when England lost to Pakistan the other day. My timing has been very poor, I arrived the week of the first Ashes test and given that I was a new boy on the block I didn’t want to make enemies and didn’t want to gloat, but come the second test I was ready to put some money on the table and I have lost money ever since [laughs]! So to see the English people go down was good to me I’m sorry to say.

You can find out more about Quinssa at quinssa.org.uk.

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