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There has been plenty of talk by pundits, retired players and commentators about England's perceived lack of experience. They have pointed out that many of the home nation players will have fewer caps than their opposite numbers in many of the other teams in the tournament. However, England Coach, Stuart Lancaster has vowed to start with his strongest line up. Playing at Twickenham to a vocal capacity crowd will certainly lift the team.
Scrum half Ben Youngs highlighted the benefit of having a young team,
"We have a young group of guys who have no fear. They're almost too young to have any fear."
http://www.rugbyworldcup.com/news/91922
Sam Burgess who has recently made the transfer from rugby league where he has been enjoying success with the South Sydney Rabbitohs will start on the bench this evening. Burgess has admitted in the press that it's been a difficult switch transferring to a game he sees as being more mental and tactical than rugby league.
However Burgess has a secret weapon, or not so secret as he has been openly talking about how he uses meditation to find calm and boost confidence during games.
"Meditation became a valuable tool for me when I was playing rugby league in Australia and it’s a technique I’ll carry on using for the rest of my career.
I was quite sceptical when we first started meditating at South Sydney, but I began to connect with the people who were doing the sessions so I bought into it. It was all about opening up our minds and talking to each other a bit more, and also about clearing your own mind in terms of being calm and ready to perform.
We used techniques to bring ourselves back down to a calm level if we found ourselves getting frustrated or lost confidence during a game.
Since joining Bath, I’ve been having sessions with Don Macpherson, who works with F1 drivers and other sportsmen, and lives two minutes away from me. I find it really helpful. It helps me stay calm, keeps my blood pressure down and keeps my mind focused. It’s even helped me to go easier on refs when decisions go against me!
I truly believe that meditation was a big part of our success at Souths. Just before the biggest games of the year, the guys would be laughing and joking, but then everyone would switch on and be in the right mental state to play.
As I see it, the brain is a muscle and I’ve got to train it like I train other muscles. At Bath, it’s been helping me to visualise the game and accelerate my learning. You train your brain with little triggers so when you get into certain match situations, your mind subconsciously knows how to react. It is really useful for me during this transition phase."
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/article-2903892/Sam-Burgess-months-union-switch-tough-know-ll-make-work.html#ixzz3m54Zm9uQ Using meditation is by no means a new concept in sport. Sportsmen and women have been using sports psychologists, mindfulness and meditation to give them the competitive edge, create a sense of mental wellbeing where they are able to perform at their best and deal with tricky and stressful situations which competition throws up.
But what is meditation? Well probably one of the best people to answer this question is Meditation and mindfulness expert, Andy Puddicombe who has a brilliant knack of keeping it simple and straightforward. He starts his TED Talk on meditation by asking,
"When was the last time you did absolutely nothing for 10 whole minutes? Not texting, talking or even thinking?" Andy Puddicombe
I'll leave you to ponder that and watch Andy's TED Talk...
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