Develop endurance Anaerobic endurance is the most important element of rugby fitness, according to Calvin Morris, senior fitness coach for the England team. “No matter what position you play, your training shouldn’t stray too far from that, so you can be powerful enough, often enough, throughout the game. For example, a back-row forward needs to run about 8km and make about 100 contacts (tackles, etc) in the 35 minutes the ball is in play – that’s three a minute!”

Get the balance right Being ready for battle before and during a game is vital, “but being too pumped up makes you lose your head, rendering you useless to your team,” says England’s forwards coach, John Wells.

Lose the fat “There’s much more focus on nutrition now, so players are leaner,” says Morris. “Ten years ago a front-row player might have weighed 120 kilos. Today’s player would weigh the same but have body fat of less than 12%, making them a better-prepared athlete.”

Practise tackling “Missing tackles is what loses you a game,” says Wells. “Obviously there are other factors, but it’s very hard to lose if no tackles are missed.”

Build your core “Pilates is practised by some of the England team,” says Morris. “Players tend to be very powerful in the legs and tight in the hips. This combination can place stress on the lower back. Pilates prevents this by loosening the hips and building a strong core.”

Go wrestling There is a lot more emphasis on competing for the opposition ball than there used to be, says Wells, “so we now employ wrestling and judo coaches to help players translate their strength into effective ways of engineering their weight in rucks, mauls and scrums”.

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