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You are what you eat: how the professional era has transformed rugby players' diets

Good habits are filtering down to the next generation of rugby players.

This is part of The42′s Class of 95 series, a week-long examination of professional rugby in Ireland.

SINCE RUGBY TURNED professional in 1995, the game and players have changed drastically to make the most of the new career paths that have opened up.

There have been plenty of changes behind the scenes too with one of the obvious ones being the improvements in player nutrition and recovery from the intense training.

Leinster Rugby and Dublin GAA nutritionist Daniel Davey makes sure that the players know exactly what fuel to put into their bodies to hit optimum performance.

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The changes to nutrition at the highest level have had an effect on the younger academy players too, who are now starting to scrutinise their nutrition at a much earlier age, according to Davey.

“When a young athlete comes in and sees the success of previous teams, they want to be a part of that and they want to do everything they possibly can to be as successful.

“When they’re given their plans and told about the really important aspects of their training and nutrition, they’re very consistent in implementing those.”

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