July is the month most clubs dust off the running shoes and head for the hills. It feels productive - lads coming back sweaty and sore, the group bonding through shared suffering. But months of steady-state running rarely show up where it matters: in the last ten minutes of a tight match, when the legs are gone and a defender still needs tracking.
The modern thinking on pre-season is simple. Rugby is a game of repeated high-intensity efforts, collisions and rapid decisions under fatigue. Your conditioning should look like that too. Get the ball into the work as early as you safely can, and build volume gradually rather than front-loading everyone into the ground in week one.
Why Traditional Fitness Falls Short
Rugby is not a steady-state sport. It is a series of short, sharp bursts - a sprint to the breakdown, a collision, a scramble to reset - separated by incomplete recovery. Training your players to jog for forty minutes teaches their bodies to be efficient at jogging. It does very little for the energy system the game actually taxes.
Worse, long slow running done in isolation carries a real cost: it eats into the time you have for skills, and it can leave players flat and heavy-legged rather than sharp. Fitness earned away from the ball tends to stay away from the ball.
Build It Around the Game
The most transferable conditioning happens inside rugby-shaped activity. Small-sided games, handling grids run at pace, and repeat-effort shuttles with a skill on the end all raise the heart rate while rehearsing the movements and decisions of a match. Players get fit and better at rugby at the same time.
Step One: Establish a base. Early pre-season, use games and continuous handling to lift general work capacity. Keep intensity moderate and volume gentle - you are waking bodies up, not testing them.
Step Two: Add repeated high-intensity efforts. Introduce shuttle and interval work with clear work-to-rest ratios. Think 15-30 seconds of maximal effort against short recovery, repeated in blocks. Put a pass, a catch or a decision at the end so fitness and skill develop together.
Step Three: Layer in fatigue. Once the base is there, run your skills sessions when players are tired. Handling under fatigue is where matches are won and lost, so rehearse it deliberately rather than hoping it holds up.
Step Four: Sharpen and taper. In the final weeks before your opener, cut volume and lift intensity. Short, sharp, game-realistic work keeps players fresh and fast rather than flat.
Manage the Load, Not Just the Effort
The point of building gradually is not softness - it is availability. Players who are buried under a huge week-one load pick up soft-tissue injuries and spend the season on the physio bench. Track how hard sessions feel, watch for the group getting heavy-legged, and progress the tough stuff week on week rather than all at once.
Small tweaks make a big difference. Vary the work so it is not all running in straight lines. Give genuine recovery between the hard days. And remember that a fit squad that is fully available in September beats a heroically fit squad that is half-injured.
Don't Forget the Collision Engine
Running fitness alone will not prepare a player for the specific fatigue of repeated contact. Wrestling, bag work and short contact-conditioning circuits build the strength and resilience the tackle and breakdown demand. Weave a little of this into the fitness block so that when full contact returns, bodies are ready for it - but build it up carefully, never full-tilt in the first sessions.
Key Coaching Points
- Match your conditioning to the game: short, sharp, repeated efforts, not endless steady running
- Get a ball into the work early so fitness and skills grow together
- Build volume gradually across pre-season rather than front-loading week one
- Deliberately train handling and decisions under fatigue
- Track load and protect recovery to keep players available all season
- Include contact-conditioning so bodies are ready when full contact returns
Recommended Drills
Frequently Asked Questions
Should we scrap long runs from pre-season altogether?
Not entirely. A little low-intensity aerobic work early on helps build a base and aids recovery. The mistake is making it the centrepiece. Once the base is laid, the bulk of your conditioning should look and feel like rugby - repeated efforts, changes of direction and a ball in the mix.
How early should we introduce ball work in pre-season?
From day one. There is no need to earn the right to touch a ball by grinding through fitness first. Handling grids and small-sided games raise the heart rate just as effectively as running while keeping skills sharp and morale high.
How do I know if I'm loading players too hard?
Watch and listen. Persistent heavy legs, dropping session quality, niggling soft-tissue complaints and low mood are all signs the load is climbing too fast. Ask players how hard sessions felt, progress the demanding work week on week, and always protect a proper recovery day.
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