What happened to giving players a rest?

For the last few years, player welfare has been at the top of the agenda in rugby. From concerns about how concussion is handled to worries about a year long season, it has been in the headlines most of the time. And with 2017 being a Lions year the discussion about players having a really long season, and lack of an off-season appeared again. With many players, coaches and pundits expressing

George North has been the concussion poster boy for
a while, but what about rest time?

concerns about the ability for the players to keep playing at the top level with minimal rest.

This makes the opening day of the season all the more head scratching. It is well documented that players that partook in the Lions series are often unavailable until around the fourth week of competitive fixtures. Some players will return earlier than that if they weren't involved in the final test match, but it's a pretty solid rule of thumb. This is designed such that the players get the required time off to let their bodies recover before they go through their own personal version of pre-season which the rest of their teammates completed in August. So it is a mystery how so many players who were still in New Zealand in July took to the field last weekend.



Some of the selections can be argued for, the likes of Justin Tipuric, Leigh Halfpenny, and George

Halfpenny had a decent game
for Scarlets, despite a full
preseason.

Kruis had no involvement in the final two fixtures of the tour so would have been on the mend long before those who fought the series to a stalemate in Auckland. Halfpenny himself put in a special request to be played on the open weekend, likely to try and put the contract fiasco of the summer behind him and focus on rediscovering his form.

While the inclusion of the afore mentioned players can be forgiven - by some - seeing four players who played in the final test match take the field on the first weekend of Septemeber leaves me stumped. Granted Jack Nowell was on the bench for both the Lions in July and Exeter last weekend so again there is an argument he is more refreshed, but seeing three players who played in all three Lions test matches not only play but start in the first round is madness, surely? Maro Itoje and Taulupe Faletau played every minute of the test series against the All Blacks and yet were deemed recovered enough - and with enough pre season - to start in big fixtures for Saracens and Bath respectively. Anthony Watson also took the field at fullback for Bath in the biggest game of the weekend against Leicester Tigers.

Both Maro Itoje (R) and Taulupe Faletau (C) played every minute of the test series and yet started last weekend.

Players always want to play in every game, so if they are given the opportunity to take to the field they aren't going to turn it down for anything, but you have to question if it is in their best interest to be playing again so quickly. Coaches have to show more respect for the stresses the players are going through and give them a proper preseason, allow niggling injuries to repair and get bodies back to peak performance. If they want to be able to field their best players through the entire season and have them still at their best at the end of the season when trophies are up for grabs they can't keep flagging them to exhaustion.

I don't pretend to have the extensive knowledge of the conditioning coaches employed by these teams, they will surely know what is going on with the players better than I can, and possibly the professional opinion is the players are perfectly fit. This doesn't stop me questioning the intent, and the precedent, that this leaves on future campaigns. Numerous players have voiced concern about the rugby calendar becoming too long, if that is the case then why are they taking to the field without the recommended rest/recovery period sanctioned by World Rugby? Welfare has to take priority over victory and the responsibility lies with both coaches and players to enforce proper season lengths.

What is your opinion on the return of Lions' players, and player welfare in general? Comment below.