What a fantastic first weekend of this year’s 6 nations, I get excited about the pilgrimage to Twickenham, sorry Allianz Stadium Twickenham, the roar of the crowd and a day with great company. Impending excitement has made me reflect on how teams have been picked over the years as the sport has professionalised and how this has synergies with the outcomes that Retain offers to our clients. In the modern era, gone are the days of picking positions by body type, athleticism and ability to consume your body weight in pints (availability). Now, selection amongst athletes across every position becomes much harder, and specific skills/talents become ever so more important.
In addition to skills, you need to ensure that each player also fits well within the team dynamic, brings the right attitude to the table, yet is still available at the right times. Balancing all these factors quickly becomes overwhelming, especially when you’re working with multiple players, schedules, and performance data.
So, if I could use Retain to pick the England side this weekend, how could we make smarter, data-driven decisions?
1. Streamline Player Data Collection
One of the first steps in selecting a rugby team is gathering data on your players. You must know their positions, stats, injuries, and past performances. With Retain, you can centralise all this information in one place. This eliminates the need for endless spreadsheets and helps you access key metrics instantly. Whether you need to check a player's fitness level, recent performances, or historical data, it's all available with a few clicks.
2. Optimise Player Availability
Rugby teams often face the challenge of managing players’ availability due to scheduling conflicts, injuries, or personal commitments. Instead of juggling multiple calendars or struggling to figure out who’s available, Retain lets you track player availability in real-time. You can see who is available for each match, training session, or event, and adjust the team selection accordingly. This ensures you’re always putting together the best possible squad based on who is fit and ready to play. You could even factor in that after-dinner speaker based on your injured players, subject to them having a public speaking skill, of course 😊
3. Balance Team Strengths and Weaknesses
A successful rugby team isn’t just about having a collection of talented individuals; it’s about balancing team strengths and weaknesses. With our new feature release just weeks, Retain will allow you to see individual performance metrics/skills and how each player's personality complements others on the field. By analysing the data on how players work together, you can make informed decisions on which player combinations will work best for team chemistry.
4. Track Player Development and Potential
A key element of rugby team selection is not just assessing where players are right now but predicting where they could be in the future. With Retain, you can track players' progress over time and the games or leagues in which they have played. Whether a player is recovering from an injury, improving their fitness, or levelling up their skills, the software could allow you to monitor their development and make future decisions based on that data. This helps ensure you’re not just selecting the best team for today, but also positioning your team for success in the future.
5. Scenario Planning and Strategy
Each rugby match requires a different approach based on your opponent’s strengths, weaknesses, and playing style. Retain lets you run different scenarios and test out how different combinations of players would perform in various situations. This level of data-driven insight makes team selection more strategic and less reliant on guesswork.
6. Handle Rotations and Rest Periods
In a long rugby season, player fatigue and injury management are crucial to keeping your team performing at its best. Retain could help you schedule player rotations and rest periods and track player workload throughout the season. By using this data, you can ensure that your players are not overworked, minimising the risk of injury and ensuring that they’re always at peak performance when called upon for a match.
7. Performance Analytics and Post-Match Evaluation
After a game, it’s essential to evaluate the team's and individual players' performance. Whilst I prefer to do this in the club house bar Retain could provide detailed post-match reports, providing a RAG status on KPIs. These reports can be used to identify areas of improvement and help inform the next round of team selection. If certain players performed exceptionally well or showed improvement in specific areas, it my improve their select in future games.
Alas, this is, of course, me shamelessly looking to create some blog content on two areas that I have many conversations on: rugby and Resource Management. I’m also happy that Big Steve picked our local boy, Ellis Genge, to start. But with all these benefits at your fingertips, it’s clear that Retain is an invaluable platform for businesses that want better control and visibility over their workforce. One day I might just do a proof of concept with my local club Thornbury RFC to test the theory………
