India clubbed alongside Pakistan in Pool B in Junior Men's Hockey World Cup
Germany are the current junior Men's World Champions, having defeated France 2–1 in the final of the 2023 edition, to win a record-extending seventh title.
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Sky F1's Bernie Collins lifts lid on McLaren and Aston Martin pressure cooker
Exclusive: One of the newest faces to the Sky Sports F1 punditry team, Bernie Collins brings with her a wealth of knowledge and experience as an engineer and strategist for McLaren and Aston Martin If you've ever overprepared for something, be it school exams, a job interview or a big family trip, chances are you still haven't experienced anything like what Formula 1 strategists go through on a weekly basis. Bernie Collins knows the score, having worked as head of strategy at the Aston Martin F1 team. For more than 20 races every year, she and her colleagues would get themselves as clued-up as possible about what every race weekend might hold, to the point that the vast majority of that work would go to waste. "I would say 90 percent of the prep that we've done was never used," said Collins. "Because it is all these edge cases that may not be useful for that race. But that leads to everyone feeling much more prepared, meaning that when you do have something a little bit off the wall, everyone's ready for it – or at least there's a slight plan in place for it. "We spent a lot of our time – most of our time – looking at what-if scenarios. Not necessarily plan for the best case but always planning for all of the other alternatives. Looking at what's happened historically, looking at what other teams have done in the race before trying to really dive into the detail that's needed." Collins was already a very experienced operator in the F1 paddock long before she took over the leading strategy role at Aston Martin in 2020. She had been with the team for five years at that point, having joined when it was still branded as Force India, where she worked closely with the likes of Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg. 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"The F1 environment is very pressurised. You're making decisions often within 50–60 seconds, depending on where an incident is and where the pit line is. You're trying to decide whether to stop, and you're balancing a lot of data, a lot of comms. "A lot of that comes down to the preparation. Many decisions, you may have an answer for in your toolbox, from previous scenarios. The more prepared people can be, the better you can make those decisions under pressure. I've always taken a lot of time to try and go through those scenarios in advance, and then do analysis. "If you made a decision, why was it the right one? And, in perfect hindsight, would you do the same thing again? Try to remove all the emotion from it. That continuous process means that, going forward, you feel stronger to make those decisions under pressure." But while she was head of the strategy at Aston Martin, it remained very much a team effort. "In F1, we're under-resourced. We don't have all of the people that you would have at the time that you need them. So, you need to rely on the most junior members of the group. They have a specific role, specific information they're looking for, and they're feeding that up to whoever it is. "You have to rely on that information, you have to trust that information. It's about trusting your experts and the feeling they're in, such that we don't have time for everyone to double-check the answer. If there's a mistake, if there's an error, we run through it later. It means that you're developing the junior members of the group to really fulfil their role going forward. "It is easy, especially in strategy, once you've done a pit stop, to say, 'That's clearly not the right decision.' It is always very obvious one lap later whether it was right or wrong. What's important is that you either change the procedure, change the data you're looking at, or change the process such that the decision is not made again. That is how the team learns. "It was very obvious very quickly within strategy that you put your hand up and say, 'I don't think that was the right decision, in hindsight.' We go through all the data next week, go through the information we had at the time, and figure out what we could have done differently. All of that goes back into relying on people – the faith in themselves to make decisions under pressure really quickly."
IOL News
a day ago
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COMMENT: Morné van den Berg the big winner, Lood de Jager back with a bang as Springboks bash Barbarians
Kurt-Lee Arendse was full of running for the Springboks against the Barbarians, and was rewarded with a deserved try. Photo: BackpagePix Image: BackpagePix Comment by Ashfak Mohamed You would've expected a bit more from the Barbarians – especially with the calibre of players selected – but it was the Springboks who put on a show in a wet Cape Town Stadium on Saturday. The 54-7 scoreline was a bit jarring, as the Boks didn't need to get out of third gear – or even second – to dispatch Robbie Deans' bunch of all stars, which included Irish duo Cian Healy and Peter O'Mahony, as well as All Black speedster Mark Tele'a. But for a first game of the year, Bok coach Rassie Erasmus would have been satisfied with what he saw, especially in the conditions. The South Africans weren't tested at scrum-time or in the lineouts, but the return of Lood de Jager was a significant highlight. Plagued by injuries and illness in recent seasons, De Jager seemed to wind back the clock and was full of his usual energy. He stole an early Barbarians lineout, carried the ball with conviction at close quarters, and was even involved in a tussle with prop Paul Alo-Emile to demonstrate that he was really up for it. Another Japan-based stalwart in wing Kurt-Lee Arendse was full of running, putting in a few dazzling surges and getting a well-deserved try, while back-three partners Cheslin Kolbe and Aphelele Fassi weren't far behind. Fassi had a hand in the first two Bok tries with a couple of classy grubbers, although considering that it wasn't more than an exhibition game, perhaps he should've kept those kinds of tricks in the back pocket for more important occasions – such as the All Blacks at Eden Park. Flyhalf Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu also pulled off some moves from the Tony Brown playbook that got the drenched 45,000-strong crowd up on their feet. But the biggest winner of the day was scrumhalf Morné van den Berg, who produced a strong kicking display to make it a nightmare for the Barbarians catchers, while he cleaned up some scrappy ball at the breakdowns with aplomb. Van den Berg backed up Erasmus' pre-match praise, and proved that he is a viable option as a starter and back-up to Grant Williams. It was a pity that debutants such as Asenathi Ntlabakanye and Vincent Tshituka didn't get much ball in hand, even though the Sharks loose forward grabbed two tries. Hard-running No 8 Jean-Luc du Preez was in the same boat, and was the unfortunate victim of 'friendly fire' in a clean-out from De Jager that saw him leave the field just before halftime. Erasmus pulled off a trick of his own by introducing his entire bench early in the second half, and employing Sharks centre André Esterhuizen at flank – where he started his senior career. Esterhuizen made some decent clean-outs, although his running lines weren't always suited to a loose forward, while he shifted out to the midfield a few times as well. But his versatility could be a valuable tool to employ ahead of the 2027 World Cup, particularly if Erasmus opts for a seven-one split where Esterhuizen can cover both the midfield and loose trio. Another important box ticked were the Bok debuts for hooker Marnus van der Merwe and tighthead prop Neethling Fouché, who both got involved with vigour in the tight-loose and scrums. Italy will provide a far more searching test of the world champions' abilities in next Saturday's first Test at Loftus Versfeld, but it was a sound start for Erasmus' team in a big year of international rugby. Points-Scorers Springboks 54 – Tries: Malcolm Marx, Cheslin Kolbe, Vincent Tshituka (2), Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Lood de Jager, Damian de Allende. Conversions: Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (2), Manie Libbok (5). Barbarians 7 – Try: Melvyn Jaminet. Conversion: Jaminet (1).
Deccan Herald
a day ago
- Deccan Herald
India clubbed alongside Pakistan in Pool B in Junior Men's Hockey World Cup
Germany are the current junior Men's World Champions, having defeated France 2–1 in the final of the 2023 edition, to win a record-extending seventh title.
