Central contracts make for mentally fresher players, says Jimmy Gopperth

Wasps’ fly-half Jimmy Gopperth believes that the systems in New Zealand and Ireland leave players ‘mentally fresher’ to play international rugby. New Zealand-born Gopperth, 34, has played in all three systems, for the Hurricanes and Blues in Super Rugby before moving overseas for stints first at Newcastle and then at Leinster before signing for Wasps in 2015. The well-travelled playmaker has little doubt of the benefits for Test players in those set-ups.

“Those guys are mentally fresher for the simple reason that they get longer rest periods,” said Gopperth in response to the head of the players' union Damian Hopley calling in Monday's Telegraph for discussion on the introduction of central contracts in England.

“The All Blacks clocked off for 14 weeks when they finished their tour in Europe in November. Most of them only turned up for Super Rugby duty a week or so before that competition started last month. Of course they all had individual training programmes, little top-ups to do and as a professional you are never going to let yourself go.

"The upside is that that because you have been able to switch off, you come back really sharp and eager to go, mentally refreshed, he said." At Leinster, you’d only see the Ireland boys [such as a  Johnny Sexton or Jamie Heaslip] for, say, 10 provincial games. That’s probably why the Irish teams are top of that European pile at the moment.

"It’s totally different here. The guys here have it tough. It’s the raw end of those sort of deals. Look at what someone like Owen Farrell has got to do. Saracens have got a Champions Cup quarter-final at Leinster in 10 days’ time so the club will probably want to play him this weekend, too, to get continuity, into the cup, back for the Premiership, off to South Africa, back for a World Cup season – well, good luck with that.”

Gopperth is quick to point out that Premiership directors of rugby, such as his own at Wasps, Dai Young, are very mindful of player welfare. Gopperth has just enjoyed a golf break in Tenerife while England players such as Joe Launchbury, James Haskell and Elliot Daly will have time off next week following Sunday’s Premiership game against Leicester as Wasps did not make it through to the Champions Cup knockout stages. 

With a possible seven games left were Wasps to make it through to the Premiership final, the England players' appearances for their club stands at Haskell 16, Launchbury 14 and Daly nine.

“None of them get anywhere near the recommended  total of 32 games,” said Young. “But yes, England did look flat and jaded against Ireland. Is that the fault of the system? Well, they won back-to-back titles in that self-same system the previous two years, one of them a Grand Slam. There’s a lot of factors in there.

"It’s true that Ireland have greater rest periods. You can’t hide from that. England missed some hugely influential players such as Billy Vunipola while when Nathan Hughes stepped up, he hadn’t played much and got injured himself. It’s not one thing feeding in.

"It’s a demanding set-up here. There’s not a game in the Premiership that doesn’t count for something, be it relegation, top six or seven for Europe, top four for the play-offs. The way that salary cap is set means that wages have gone up and we have had to trim our squads, from, 45 to 42 to 41 to 39 this season. I heard [Saracens'] Billy Vunipola say that he’d play for less money if it meant fewer games. I’ve not had many coming through my door saying that. Look, if England were like this for two or three more seasons, then you would probably have to look at the reasons why.”