 |  In terms of the intensity and physicality it's a lot harder in England |
The sheer numbers of injuries have grown year on year since the game went professional.
Players are bigger, stronger and put in far harder hits on each other than ever before.
This makes the physiotherapists' job that bit harder - and all the more crucial for any team.
Chris Mallac joined Bath in the summer of 2002 from Queensland Reds in the Super 12.
This year he has had to deal with more than 23 injured players in a season that, in terms of injuries, has been unquestionably the worst in the club's history.
HOW HARD IS THE PREMIERSHIP?
The Premiership is definitely the hardest league on players' bodies in the world.
Having worked in the Super 12 and now the Zurich Premiership I can directly compare and contrast the two competitions.
Super 12 is fast, skilful and it's all very glossy and great to watch but it's nowhere as intense as the Premiership.
The amount of bodies at breakdowns and the physicality at them is phenomenal over here.
All the players who come over here from Super 12 say the same thing straight away - they just can't believe how hard the breakdown is over here.
In terms of the intensity and physicality it's a lot harder in England.
| MALLAC'S AVERAGE WEEK Sun: Post-match medical check Mon: Scans, massage, recovery weights, light training Tues: Unit sessions, treatment, hot/cold recovery Wed: Weights, team meeting, training, massage Thurs: Recovery day Fri: Captain's run Sat: Game |
The number of games is also key - initially in Super 12 you play 11, and you'll actually have a week off in the middle of that.
Over here you've got your basic 22 Premiership games, plus all your domestic and European Cup competitions - and then perhaps the finals - so it's a lot more games.
That's the way the game is played in England, but add on the fact that the grounds are sloppy for four months of the year, from November to February, so it's hard to play 15-man rugby.
The tracks in Australia are drier, so you can give it to the backs, play a running game and avoid the number of times you go into contact.
At Bath we don't do a huge amount of contact training - we may do a little bit in defence sessions, but a lot of it is very controlled - more organisational.
Players who aren't playing may do some direct contact work but all the team runs and drills are unopposed, so there's no real contact.
The main contact through training involves the forwards, who will practice their lineouts and driving mauls.
But in general we don't do a lot, and it would be hard to do anyway as there are so many blokes carrying niggles from the weekend. 
MMIX
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