Stuart Lancaster: how Leinster rugby train at ‘overspeed’ to prepare for matchday

Practice | Sessions | Stuart Lancaster | 04.06.2021

Leinster Rugby head coach, Stuart Lancaster, outlines how the Irish side train above the level of matchday to prepare their players for the demands of the game.

Learning: 

• Study game ‘incidents’ to inform practice design

• Use different types of pressure to challenge players

• Involve all the players in your practice

No distractions and keep the intensity high 

The longest session I coach at Leinster is about 40 minutes. It’s amazing that if you’re really organised how much you can get into a 40-minute training session. 

I make sure there’s no time wasting and lots of intensity. There’s not much chat from the players to each other, because I want to keep the intensity high. We will have chance to debate and discuss at the end of training. 

Make training harder than the game by training at ‘overspeed’ 

We put a lot of store and emphasis on our training sessions and sometimes make them more challenging than the game - not necessarily physically, but in terms of the intensity and speed. It’s almost ‘overspeed’ training. 

Replicate scenarios that happen in the game  

I’ll create different scenarios and games that replicate scenarios that happen in the game. That’s the art of it: coming up with creative ways of creating games that look like and feel like incidents that happen in the game.  I’m constantly thinking about ways which I can replicate scenarios that happen in a game in a controlled way.

Summary: 

• When time is limited focus on practices that look and feel like the game

• Increase session intensity by minimising talk time and planning smooth practice transitions

• Expect failure when players are challenged outside their comfort zones


Reflection: 

• How can you create practice sessions that are harder than the game your players play?

• What realistic ‘incidents’ happen in your games and how can you replicate them in training?

• What does appropriate psychological, physical and technical pressure look like for the age and stage of your players?

Stuart Lancaster is head coach of Leinster Rugby. Before joining the Irish side he was England  rugby head coach between 2011 and 2015. Access his leadership and coaching masterclasses here.