I am fortunate enough to own two old cars. One is from 2008 and the other from 1989. They’re both in good condition because I was paying attention when I bought them and have maintained them properly.
To maintain an old car like my 1989 Toyota Land Cruiser one has to think ahead. It’s an old car and old cars need plenty of TLC. I have to make sure, for example, that the brakes are in good condition and that the engine has oil and coolant in it. These things are vital for the cars wellbeing and longevity. I won’t simply ignore the squeaky noise the wheels are making, lest I end up stranded at the bottom of a ravine full of wolves. Tow truck drivers are not equipped to fight off wolves and will be disinclined to assist if I were to find myself in that predicament.
RWC 2015 Player Maintenance: If its Fixed, why Break It?
If something does break then I fix it, well, I get someone who knows what they are doing to fix it. It costs money to fix things obviously, sometimes a lot of money. I try avoiding that expense with regular servicing where they assess the car and warn me about potential problems.
What I don’t do is deliberately go to my car, look at it and say, “Well, that engine mounting looks like it might break someday! I think I’ll break it on purpose and do it now. Just in case…”
This is also what annoys me about the South African Super Rugby franchises and the Springboks. You see, certain key players, Duane Vermeulen for example, are played week in and week out without rest. Now I know SARU and the franchises came up with a hastily thrown together player wellness scheme but it wasn’t enough. Vermeulen, a key part of the Bok machine was not properly looked after and then he broke down.
Just like my Land Cruiser would if I drove it every day in perilous conditions without thought of the strain I was putting it through. Luckily for Vermeulen he didn’t end up stranded in a ravine full of wolves but he is in a race against time to be fit for the Rugby World Cup and would be a huge loss to the team if he doesn’t recover in time.
On the other hand though, I would never replace my car’s engine just because everyone else was doing it and it seems like a good idea. I’ve heard horror stories about V8 Lexus conversions being done to perfectly good Land Cruisers with catastrophic consequences.
Much like replacing the whole front row at 60 minutes against Australia. Why take off a dominant front row and replace it with a younger, perhaps faster, but untested combination? Sure, it might work, but why take the chance? You’re already winning!
New Zealand has gotten their player management right. Their key players, their match winners, are managed so that they reach their peak at the right time. They’re subject, for want of a better word, to constant preventative maintenance so that the chances of them breaking down at the bottom of a ravine full of wolves are slim. Sure freak injuries happen, they can’t be avoided, but you can take preventative measures to ensure they aren’t as bad as they could be and you can avoid injuries from over use almost entirely by simply managing the players’ workload.
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