Reflections on the Summer Tours by the North to the South

Rugby news: in case you missed it! One Northern Hemisphere team wins 3 from 3 on tour!

Scotland Captain Ross Ford
after receiving this trophy after beating Australia
pictured with SPACE's Stephen Mutch

Blink you may have missed it! 
Even online newspaper reading of UK papers & media has shown that Scotland's tour to Australia,Fiji & Samoa has been under-reported & scarcely rated alongside heavyweight Irish defeats in NZ, three close run losses by Wales in Australia and England losing 2 matches comfortably in South Africa before a draw on the weekend.


France lost in Cordoba to Argentina prior to a huge win in Tucuman,albeit with 20 changes made to the Pumas.
Italy lost to Argentina this summer but rallied to win in both Canada & USA.
Is this a new dawn for Scottish rugby, or an isolated 'blip' in an otherwise virtual Southern hemisphere whitewash.


What does this mean for Northern Hemisphere rugby?

Sonny Bill Williams escaping Ireland's clutches

The North is still playing catch up according to Sky Sports' commentator and Rugby World Magazine writer Stuart Barnes. Online subscription would allow  read of his thoughts here: Rugby World Magazine August 2012.

But then the Scots' success was on a tour with very little precendent in the modern era, and merited something more than grudging praise. This piece had some nuggets of positivity contained within it: Rugby World review of Scotland Summer 2012 Tour.

Welsh disappointment in Australia

England's Head Coach took some positives from the England Tour of South Africa (Lancaster's Coaching Report) whilst rugby legend Brian O'Driscoll was simply embarrassed by Ireland's 60 point thrashing by New Zealand (NZ defeat 'embarrassing'). Wales only lost to Australia by an aggregate of eleven points but three test defeats, and Caretaker Coach Rob Howley was left frustrated but proud of his Grand Slam team (Howley proud of his team).


Overall the IRB standings have changed from 4-12 after these tour results, and with the 2015 World Cup Rankings being determined by the standing of the countries at the end of 2012 (yes really!) then there will be some excitement and nervousness come the reverse tours in the Autumn of 2012.

IRB Rankings in full at end of Summer Tours 2012

Getting it Taped - and why we need to view even BBC blogs with open eyes & minds

Coloured tape everywhere you look. Switching on to watch coverage of the tennis at Wimbledon or the recent European Championships in Eastern Europe it is clear that stretchy brightly coloured tape will be a feature of this 'Summer of Sport'.


The Olympics will undoubtedly see athletes bedecked in national team colours (see Dwain Chambers with an apparent tib post/peroneal 'hammock' strapping in Helsinki at the weekend).


The BBC has highlighted the use of tape in an article following the exposure of Mario Balotelli's back strapping BBC article -Why are athletes wearing coloured tape? and this piece includes discussion with the undisputed 'father of kinesio tape, Dr Kenzo Kase.


However Dr Kase persists with the line that kinesio tape works by lifting the skin to assist lymphatic flow which in turn reduces pain and swelling.


This is despite there being very little by way of evidence, a point taken up by physio Phil Newton, 26 years a physio practitioner at Lilleshall & 3 times-Commonwealth Games staffer.

Dwain Chambers in Helsinki

At least he has some credence within sports' medicine and rehab, and therefore we can read his pronouncements with some degree of interest.


However we should have some contention with the BBC piece rather than blindly accepting its wisdom just as we should not blindly accept the tape itself. Newton is quoted by the BBC along with Professor John Brewer from the University of Bedfordshire. Clearly an expert in sport science and administration-his experience with handball, as a Director of Glaxo-Smithkline and the British Olympic Association makes for impressive reading...in sports' nutrition and administration certainly. 


However he represents an odd choice for a commentator in this arena as his expertise is clearly in applied sport science and sports nutrition thus demeaning the status of the article, and also opening Michelle Roberts, BBC Health Online Editor up for questioning as to her choice of 'experts' for such an article steeped in contemporary controversy. It also demonstrates that articles from even trustworthy and august bodies such as the BBC should be viewed with caution as there is undoubtedly issues in credibility of these assumed 'experts'.


Newton suggests that the kinesio tape (and it's many producers and imitators) has suggested that there is an element of fascial unloading, and that this may be a mechanism for improvements seen with the tape, along with an undoubted placebo effect.


We at SPACE Clinics are happy enough to be using the tape when indicated, but as an adjunct rather than alternative to therapy and rehab. It has been seen recently with the Scottish volleyball and rugby teams with good effects, but the tape has had its critics among medics whom are well known & respected within sport. 


The effects are not well understood: the neural and mechanosensitive structures lying within the extracellular matrix may well be a critical component part of how the kinesio tape affects the skin (body's largest organ remember fact fans) but there is certainly an affect that lies well beyond the influence of the medic applying the tape. 


So we don't understand how the tape works. So perhaps we shouldn't just judge materials on the currently available evidence when we have so many athletes and patients happy with their results?