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Short, sharp training sessions a hit for the returning Luke Jacobson

(Photo by Michael Bradley/Getty Images)

NZ Herald

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All Black loose forward Luke Jacobson has revealed less is more when it comes to Warren Gatland’s coaching sessions at the Chiefs.

The date of Jacobson’s return is still up in the air as he makes his way back from concussion issues but he is building up his contact work.

Quality not quantity appears to be the hallmark of training sessions under Gatland, the former Welsh boss who has coached in Europe since the 1990s.

“He’s made a few little changes. At the start he was quiet and observing, he’s slowly bringing the changes in now,” said Jacobson.

“The main one is shorter training which is top stuff. There’s an hour training in the afternoon, in previous years it might have been two hours, two and a half hours.

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“Our first training in the morning is not until 9.30 so you’ve got a bit of time to sort your things out.

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“Most of the time you come in anyway and do pre-hab or are looking at some footy, but there’s a bit more time on your hands which makes things more enjoyable.”

Gatland built a reputation for coaching a very physical and controlled type of game known as ‘Warrenball’ at odds with how the Chiefs are perceived to play.

Jacobson said: “We’ll still be playing an exciting brand of footy, it’s in our DNA and a point of difference. Our counter attacking game can break things open when there isn’t much there.

“We will be using our strengths to the best we can, but I’d imagine Warren will bring a little bit of a different spin on things. It will be cool to see how we work those together.”

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Jacobson won’t play the opening encounter against the Blues at Eden Park on Friday next week, and hopes his return comes in round two or three.

“Everything has been going good and I’m back into full training,” he said.

“I could have been back earlier, but we thought I might as well make the most of the time off, try and make sure it’s right when I get out there.”

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Jacobson went to Japan with the All Blacks but headed back home before the World Cup started.

“It was a really exciting time getting named in the All Blacks, and it wasn’t the nicest thing and pretty tough to take especially as I didn’t get a game out there.”

He said the Super Rugby season had “come around bloody quick – it feels like we’ve just got back from our break…that’s good, less pre-season.”

This article first appeared on nzherald.co.nz and is republished with permission.

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Flankly 2 hours ago
'Absolute madness': Clive Woodward rips into Borthwick in wake of NZ loss

Borthwick is supposed to be the archetypical conservative coach, the guy that might not deliver a sparkling, high-risk attacking style, but whose teams execute the basics flawlessly. And that's OK, because it can be really hard to beat teams that are rock solid and consistent in the rugby equivalent of "blocking and tackling".


But this is why the performance against NZ is hard to defend. You can forgive a conservative, back-to-basics team for failing to score tons of tries, because teams like that make up for it with reliability in the simple things. They can defend well, apply territorial pressure, win the set piece battles, and take their scoring chances with metronomic goal kicking, maul tries and pick-and-go goal line attacks.


The reason why the English rugby administrators should be on high alert is not that the English team looked unable to score tries, but that they were repeatedly unable to close out a game by executing basic, coachable skills. Regardless of how they got to the point of being in control of their destiny, they did get to that point. All that was needed was to be world class at things that require more training than talent. But that training was apparently missing, and the finger has to point at the coach.


Borthwick has been in the job for nearly two years, a period that includes two 6N programs and an RWC campaign. So where are the solid foundations that he has been building?

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