They were happy to meet again but surely to bring out the electric bikes under the Corrèze sun. CA Brive players resumed training on Tuesday July 5, while the first league match will take place in two months, September 3 against Lyon.
After four weeks of vacation in June, with their maintenance in the Top 14, in what state of form did the staff find the players? “This first week is an opportunity to do tests, with their weight, their fat mass but also on the movements” explains Dominique Schenck, the person in charge of physical preparation at the CAB, who specifies that he has not “had bad surprises, quite the contrary. On D1, after the holidays, the players were better than a year ago “
Rugby from earlier and earlier
The players have therefore started their “vacation book” program. They started by alternating high and low intensity days, but for the second and third week, this same intensity will increase. “We will see if the organizations hold up” explains Dominique Schenck. “We are putting in place exercises to get them back to the level they were before the holidays to be ready to chain rugby spots”.
One of the big changes this year is the introduction of rugby at an early stage. “We are obviously not on collective rugby fifteen against fifteen, but on small individual development workshops. The slots will be more and more important until the first internship in early August” in Bugeat. This is possible with a very large squad (48 players with many young people entering the off-season).
Young people carry out their first training sessions with the pros
Moreover, it is also the novelty compared to last season. “There are players doing their second pre-season, but there are also newcomers doing their first pre-season, seeing their first training sessions with the pros. _We have this generation of 2004 who discovered professional rugby and who are with us today._rejoices the physical trainer. For him and his colleagues, it is very interesting on two counts: first, these young people are better able to integrate a heavy workload, but also, they pull the oldest or seasoned rugby player up.
For the continuation of the preparation, a week of vacation will be organized at the end of July to regenerate. There will also be different activities in the afternoons. “_We tried to have fun activities that will help develop other skills_. We’re going to do handball (note: with the CAB Handball club), judo, the swimming pool in Brive…and a lot of running.”
Recruits and players in selection to integrate
As for the recruits, if some have not yet arrived, they seem to be adapting well to the Brive physical context. “There are good surprises and bad ones, but we will do everything so that the guys can be in good shape for this ten-game marathon block” confirms Dominique Schenck.
Some players in selection (Rodrigo Bruni, Lucas Paulos, Vasil Lobzhanidze and Luka Japaridze) will have three weeks of vacation after their international period (at the end of July). These players who represent their country will rejoin the team at the time of the second stage. They will have a short week of physical preparation, but will quickly switch to rugby, especially for new recruit Rodrigo Bruni, whose coaches will want to know quickly what he can be worth during the friendly matches scheduled for August 19 and 26.