It’s rugby season in New Zealand and every few Saturdays most of the country sits glued to the TV watching our ‘boys’, the All Blacks (that’s them in black, and still No. 1 in the world) tough it out against another nation. Tonight they play the Wallabies (Australia – that’s them in green) in Auckland for the Bledisloe cup (usually these transtasman games are epic encounters of huge guts and determination). It’s blowing a gale and intermittently pouring with rain. Great Kiwi weather, and it favours the home side! It’s great to finally have our captain, Richie McCaw, back on the field. Let’s hope he’s fully recovered from his injuries.

Talking about recovery, it’s a critical part of the eating plan of any serious athlete. An athlete’s body will recover much more quickly from a game or training session if he or she eats carbohydrate (1 gram per kilo) and protein soon afterwards.  Protein, along with carbohydrate, is more readily taken up by the muscles if it’s eaten straight after training. It’s important for replenishing glycogen stores, muscle repair and immune system recovery. As well as carbohydrate and protein, athletes need to replace lost fluids. Even on a cold winter’s night like tonight, the All Blacks and Wallabies will lose at least a couple of kilos in fluid.

When I was the dietitian for the Brisbane Lions Australian rules football (AFL) team, we would get them to calculate how much fluid they lost during training so they would know how much they needed to replace. Some of them lost five or six kilos in a training session! This meant they needed to drink five or six litres – and more – to fully recover. AFL players can run up to a half marathon in one game (amazing!). No wonder they lose so much fluid!

In the ‘good old days’ our tough rugby players recovered with steak, chips, burgers and beer – plenty of fluids consumed there! But in the brief television glimpses of the AB’s recovering after a game I have spotted sushi amongst the recovery meal laid out for them. It’s an amusing picture – our gladiator AB’s delicately popping little rounds of sushi into their battered mouths. But it’s fantastic sports nutrition – protein and carbohydrate rolled into one. I bet the beer is locked away until they have at least drunk a few litres of sports drink, juice and water.

For those of you who won’t be watching the game, I’ll let you know the score tomorrow – along with some recovery food ideas and amounts.

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Morning after: AB’s gutsed out a round 1 Bledisloe cup win at Eden Park, Auckland 22-16, after being down 10-0 early in the game. Real determination and character to come back and win, with inspirational ‘old-timers’ back in the side leading the way. Good on you boys, travel well to South Africa this morning (4.30am), for next game against our traditional old foe, the Springboks! Match reports:

All Blacks shake off rust

ABs make winning start

Old guard add steel to All Blacks