20 Apr 2012

IRB conditioning consultant impressed with Fiji and Samoa

10:15 am on 20 April 2012

The IRB Pacific Strenght and Conditioning consultant says the elite island rugby players still need to strive for an 80 minute game.

This month Matthew Blair has carried out an assessment of conditioning programmes in Samoa and Fiji.

He says he's impressed by what he's seen in both countries with Samoa having an advantage of having their fitness facilities centralised in Apia while Fiji has five centres to co-ordinate.

Blair says the athletic prowess of the Island rugby players is immense but they struggle to produce it consistently

"Through an annual training year and then obviously in a game.The aim is getting to the point where they are competitve for the whole game, not just a quarter here or a quarter there. There's a big mental component there, focussing that they can do it, that they actually get use to working for that amount of time."