As they approach the end of the Greene King IPA Championship 2018/19 season, we leave you in the capable hands of Matt Harland to bring you up to speed with the performance analysis processes used by Coventry Rugby and how they have evolved since moving over to Nacsport.
Following on from the blog before Christmas where we spoke about the club’s decision to choose Nacsport and the analysis solutions available from AnalysisPro, I wanted to share feedback from both coaches Nick Walshe (Head Coach) and Louis Deacon (Forwards Coach) and the role that Nacsport plays in our analysis process throughout the week, both in training and preparing for our upcoming opponents.
From my point of view, it’s important we have a system that works quickly and is easy for coaches and players to pick up and understand. I currently have two interns who had never used the software before this season and have both been able to pick up the software quickly and play an important role in our analysis process, which we are hoping to grow next season going forward. I’ll give an overview of our processes during the week here, then leave you with the thoughts of both Nick and Louis.
Opposition Analysis
All games in the league are stored on an online platform called Elitehub, along with an analysis file of the games provided by the RFU, which we download and use to speed up our opposition analysis. Nacsport can import both file types provided (SportsCode timelines or XML files), so we can quickly share this content amongst the team. These games are also uploaded to our online sharing platform and put onto the club laptops in the office, which have Nacsport Viewer on them, for the players to easily access and review. With Nacsport Viewer, players can put together presentations themselves to pick out key clips that they want to highlight and discuss. We want the players to have an influential role in our analysis process, so being able to make their time in the office as effective as possible is important. We also have a whiteboard for the players to put any information about the opposition onto, which also feeds into any meetings and analysis for the week.
From the RFU analysis, we use the Nacsport presentation window to pick out Lineout and Scrum clips. The lineout clips are then categorised further into setups for the players and Louis to review. We are then able to put together ‘lineout menus’ looking at the main opposition jumpers, areas of the pitch and setups they use most often. We also use the presentation window to put together opposition 1st phase starter plays from scrums, lineouts etc and look at the opposition phase play and defence styles. Nacsport makes this really simple as our coaches can build up presentations on their own Nacsport machines, with the presentation file being so small that it can be emailed back and forth among the coaches to keep a combined presentation easily updated.
Training
One of the biggest developments over the season has been our review and analysis of training. We decided to invest in a drone just before Christmas and this has played a big part in that development due to the different point of view it provides. With a few adjustments to the remote on the drone, we have been able to have a live feed from the drone going into my laptop with Nacsport Elite for live capture and review. We have been trialling using the drone footage and live tagging to pick out any coach clips or points where the players need to be picked out to review the footage on the laptop during the session.
With the amount of information we are trying to get across to the players through the week, we want to make the review process as quick as possible. Nacsport Elite allows us to scrub back through the footage and review training live, so we can provide information to the coaches over the radio, which they are then able to feed that back into the players. As you can see from the pictures, we have to be quite simple with our setup as we train away from the ground, so it’s important that our setup with the Avermedia capture device and Nacsport machine is quick and easy to set up. We also film training from the side of the pitch to provide us with another angle, which is also tagged in Nacsport according to the coach’s training sheet for easier review.
Match Day
On a match day, we are provided with a tight angle which we capture via an HDMI cable into an Avermedia and then into Nacsport Elite. This is tagged live so we can provide important information during the game to players and coaches, also meaning that the coaches can take away the video and analysis straight after the game to review. At home games, we have an end on camera and an opposite side of the pitch view, which we sync up after the game along with the tight and wide provided by the RFU, to provide the coaches with 4 angles to review post-match.
Whilst capturing live, I use my customised Nacsport template which includes Panel Flows, Activation and Deactivation links to help me get as much information as I can in the most efficient way during the game. This template is linked to a live Dashboard that is constantly updating during the game to provide in-game statistics. The coaches who sit next to me have access to a laptop with Nacsport Coach Station on, which allows them to review the footage I am capturing either by scrubbing back through the game or clicking a specific clip in the play by play list of actions. Coach Station is a tool I am looking to utilise more during training, as we can use our AP Wireless network to wirelessly stream to a laptop or Surface Pro to allow for further analysis review during training.
Once the game has finished, coaches are able to take away a package with an initial breakdown of the game i.e. ball in play, lineouts, scrums and 1st phase attack and defence. The captured footage is then reviewed again using a different buttons template looking at the individual player’s attack, defence, work rate and set-piece performances. This analysis will then be used to help drive the player’s development for their Independent Development Programmes (IDP).
Coventry Head Coach & Backs Coach Nick Walshe says:
The analysis setup at the club has come on a lot from where we were at this time last year. Matt has brought in new software and as he has said, it plays a key role in our week both for preparation and review of performance and training.
The review process drives how we work for the rest of the week leading up to our next game. Having used pen and paper and noting down clips or timings previously, using Nacsport has helped develop our review process and allows me to sit down with Louis and Matt and easily prepare presentations for the Backs and Team meetings.
Coach Station allows us to back up what we have seen live and help us make the right decisions going forward through the game. It reinforces what we have seen in our preview of the opposition and whether or not they are playing the way we expected them to.
Coventry Forwards Coach Louis Deacon says:
One of our main objectives is for the players to have an active role in our analysis process, so I challenge them to review opposition Attack and Defensive lineouts and prepare clips for meetings. The analysis of the opposition is an important factor in how we prepare during the week. Matt and his interns put together packages of our opponent’s lineouts from the last 3 to 4 games, which are then tagged into our setups for the lads to review. Players not involved are then also expected to replicate these lineout setups to run against the 1st team to aid preparation for the week.
Our sessions are also filmed and tagged by Matt and his team using the Nacsport Tag&view app to film and tag scrums and lineouts for players to then review post training. As you can see from the picture, the drone is able to provide us with a 3rd view of the scrums (both sides and above) and lineouts (behind the hooker, side and above). Matt is usually on the radio and feeds back anything he sees during the session from the drone angle, but Tag&view also allows the players to quickly review the scrums or lineouts from that iPad angle.
Matt concludes:
As mentioned, we are constantly discussing how we review training and matches and looking to integrate Coach Station more and more will allow the players to continue to be a part of the review process. The support, answers and advice from Josh, Jon and the team at AnalysisPro have always been a great help in how we continue to develop our analysis processes with Nacsport at Coventry Rugby.