In James Clear’s book Atomic Habits, he paints the picture of a British cycling team that could fall no farther. So underwhelming were they that “one of the top bike manufacturers in Europe refused to sell bikes to the team because they were afraid that it would hurt sales if other professionals saw the Brits using their gear”.
Then the year 2003 arrived and a man called David Brailsford came on to the scene. His team began to make small adjustments all around the performance side of the cyclists.
Brailsford spoke of percentages and the aggregation of marginal gains. They invited a doctor into camp to show them how to wash their hands, so they didn’t catch colds. They got the best pillows and mattresses to improve on sleep and tested all the massage gels to select the most effective. Those and dozens more added up.
By the time the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing had finished Britain had won 60 per cent of the gold medals. By London 2012 the gold medals continued but the team were also setting Olympic and world records. The aggregation of marginal gains was paying back.
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The Irish rugby team is far from the British cyclists of 2003 but this week Dublin All-Ireland winner Brian Fenton spent time with them talking about football’s take on fielding high balls. That’s become a crucial skill in rugby too, and Garry Ringrose is regularly involved in the aerial game and breaking ball battles four feet above the turf.
Rugby is using the Brailsford method.
“He [Fenton] is a pretty inspirational figure,” says Ringrose. “But I think everyone in the room was admiring him for what he’s achieved as a player and with the team he’s involved in. I was picking his brain a little bit and even on some of the aerial stuff.
“At no point did he mention the word ‘I’. He was very insistent on him being part of a great team and culture. And I get the chance to work with Dec Darcy at Leinster, and he was at Dublin. Any environment that has achieved huge success for a prolonged period of time, all of us would be keen to know what they’re doing, what they’re thinking.
“From the game perspective, talking about the aerial battle, it was great getting his insights into how he approached it and how the team approached it.”
Kicking is generally lower risk, especially in a player’s own half, and less energy-sapping than running. Against Scotland the ball was kicked 42 times, 18 times by Scotland and 24 times by Ireland, with many of those high and contestable.
Against England in the opening game, there was even more kicked ball, with Ireland opting for the punt 31 times for 948 metres and England kicking it 38 times for 814m.
“I remember when I was first in the environment Joe Schmidt used to really drive it and had some principles that we still use and reference today,” says Ringrose. “Then I guess, when teams got a bit cuter, in terms of providing a block and stuff like that ... I don’t think it ever got any easier because it’s not exactly an easy skill, but it did give fellas – if you got that right – a cleaner approach or jump at the ball.
“Now that’s [blocking] been taken away, I think it’s a massive challenge. There are loads of different aspects to it. It’s great, certainly the crowd get involved, the players, it can give us energy, so it’s something we’re continually trying to review and get better at because it’s kind of ebbed and flowed from when I first started. But a couple of the principles Joe spoke about are still being spoken about now.”
Fenton, the talismanic midfielder from the Raheny club, won seven All-Ireland football championships and six All-Star awards. He represented Dublin in senior championship football more than 60 times, including playing a central role in Dublin’s record-breaking run of 45 unbeaten championship games. He announced his retirement last November.
At 31, he’s a year older than Ringrose. Although the sports are not comparable, the player’s relative success is. Ringrose is a two-time Grand Slam winner with Ireland in 2018 and 2023, has won a European Champion’s Cup and four league titles. Working across sports is not unusual.
“He [Fenton] is some man to win a ball in the midfield,” says Ringrose. “With the new rules, we were asking him for some tips and cues that he uses that helped him through his career. So, it was really cool having him in.”
Gary Keegan, who set up Irish boxing’s high-performance programme, has worked with Dublin GAA and is with Irish rugby. Bernard Dunne, the former WBA super bantamweight world champion, also worked with Dublin coach Jim Gavin. Fenton’s arrival is no surprise in the continuing search for those marginal gains.
