Dave Dennis
Waratahs captain Dave Dennis revealed that he went to America to speed up the rehabilitation program, following a knee injury.
Dennis was among the first batch of Waratahs that began pre-season training this week, as they look to defend their Super Rugby crown.
He was among the first group of returning players, which include senior team members Pat McCutcheon, Paddy Ryan and Jeremy Tilse.
They are joined by seven new faces, including former New Zealand Warriors Rugby League player Sam Lousi.
rugby365
Dennis, who was sidelined in June with a knee injury, chose to spend the last two weeks of his off-season break in the United States undergoing an intense rehabilitation program ahead of the resumption of team training.
After several months of rehabilitation, Dennis said he was motivated to get the best treatment to ensure a smooth transition back into training, completing two sessions a day for the duration of his two-week stay in California.
“I went over there to increase the intensity and load in the work I was doing on my lower body so I could come back to training and start running,” Dennis said.
“It was great to get a change in environment and to hear a different voice giving me some ideas around improving the strength in my leg ahead of the pre-season.”
With the early start to the 2015 season, the Waratahs have a significantly shortened timeframe for their preparation, but Dennis said his goal is still to play in Round One against the Western Force on February 15.
“I’ve been running this week, so that is half the battle – now it’s just about increasing the volume and intensity of my running throughout the next five weeks before Christmas and then reassess after that,” Dennis said.
Assistant coach Daryl Gibson is overseeing the gruelling pre-season training schedule, while head coach Michael Cheika is on tour with the Wallabies, and says the returning captain exemplifies the team culture of hard work and constant improvement.
“It’s really good to have him back here with this group, he will be a good example to a lot of the players to see the hunger he has to be available for the first round of the Super Rugby season,” Gibson said.
“We’re really fortunate that we have a number of senior players with the team at the moment, and a number of them will start on Monday next week – Stephen Hoiles, Mitch Chapman, Wycliff Palu and Tatafu Polota-Nau – and the younger guys will really benefit from having them around.”
Six players have joined the squad as part of the transitioning player group: Henry Clunies-Ross, Jack Dempsey, Auvasa Falealii, David Porecki, Jim Stewart and Matt Sandell – as well as two new signings, Sam Lousi and 19 year-old Country Eagles player Andrew Kellaway who will join the squad next week.
“For the younger players it is a very steep learning curve, in the past few days they have had to pack in a lot of learning about the way we do things here. How quickly they learn those lessons will determine how far they go,” Gibson said.
“We’ve got a really promising young group who have joined us, potentially a number of good Waratahs of the future.
“Early on there have been some good signs from the younger guys, it’s very impressive and the key for them will be to demonstrate consistency in their training every day.”