neiliog93 wrote: ↑October 29th, 2020, 11:53 pm
One of the findings from Ireland's 2019 world cup failure was that focussing on peaking at a particular time is counter-productive.
I disagree with the report. Schmidt might have focused on peaking but at that stage when the world cup came around ireland had lost all momentum from their peak in 2018 and were heading towards a trough. Schmidt tried but couldn't get that momentum back. In my opinion, the trough was always going to follow the peak of the 2 previous years unless Schmidt made some radical changes and that was never going to happen.
Its not easy to regain momentum. Remember NZ peaking between world cups. SA were terrible between the last 2 world cups but Rassie steadied the ship and they began to pick up momentum and peaked at the right time.
Its like a good energy throughout the squad where everything starts going your way in terms of injuries, bounce of the ball, ref decisions etc. I think Warren Gatland is one who understands that and always has Wales playing their best at world cups.
In 2011 Wales had a bad 6 nations. By the time the world cup came around it was a transformed team and they nearly got to the final. That team came out of nowhere.
So imo peaking is the right thing to do but doing it is a different story.