sport news Anthony Watson reveals completing visualisation training ahead of England's win ... trends now
By the time Anthony Watson stretched out to score in the left corner at the Principality Stadium last Saturday, he had already played the moment over several times in his head.
As part of his visualisation work, Watson had pre-recorded a commentary of the scenario, listening to it regularly in the build-up to his first England start for two years. When the ball landed in his hands from Alex Dombrandt’s miss pass, he already knew what he was going to do next.
Watson has been working with Don Macpherson, the mind coach who has also helped Formula One drivers and Premier League footballers. He reached out before the trip to Cardiff and went through a high-definition, mental rehearsal.
‘I record special MP3s and the input of the visualisation comes from Anthony,’ Macpherson told Sportsmail.
‘If it’s not Anthony, it might be the F1 driver I’m working with this weekend who tells me how he sees a good lap of Bahrain.
Anthony Watson played his first game for England in two years against Wales last week
The 29-year-old has revealed completing visualisation activities before the game
‘Painting pictures in deep colour of the Bahrain track, changing into second gear, the bite of his tyres on a particular turn, the scream of the engine…
‘It’s not something where you float away and daydream. You need to use the correct parts of the brain. For visualisation to be most effective, you need to dumb down the voice in your head that people call the monkey mind. The left hemisphere of the brain.
‘Anthony will have a 20-minute recording. The first part will be me relaxing the conscious mind, and once everything’s calmed down it’s now, “You’re at the Principality Stadium, playing on the wing for England”.
‘Then I feed back his interpretation of how he’s going to score a try, beat defenders or collect every high kick.’
Macpherson is quick to point out this is not voodoo work.
‘There’s nothing new about visualisation,’ added Macpherson. ‘In recent years, we’ve discovered ancient caves in France where the cavemen would draw pictures of success on the walls before they went out to kill a wildebeest.
‘There’s plenty of science now that we knew nothing about years ago. The neuroscience shows which cells are responsible for the physical action. If you were to put Anthony in an MRI scanner while he’s listening to the MP3, the rugby brain cells would be lit up.
‘If you visualise various try-scoring opportunities, then when that opportunity comes, your body will react far quicker.
‘You won’t be questioning, “Do I step inside?” It will be instinctive. More than anything, it boosts your
