Drones, specs and sensors - meet RFU's 'Q' behind gadgets for England's stars

Fifteen years ago, Cristiano Ronaldo was the star of a genre-defying film.

At the peak of his powers, the footballer was the subject of 'docu-mmercial' - his skills scientifically unpicked and assessed as part of a promotion for a car engine oil.

It was a success and a key segment went viral., external

In it, Ronaldo stood eight yards out from goal and waited for a cross. However, as the ball was in mid-flight, the lights were cut, plunging the penalty box into darkness.

The Portugal captain found the net all the same, relying on his experience, anticipation and reading of the ball's flight to finish the chance blind.

Earlier this summer, England's back three were similarly tested.

Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, Noah Caluori and Cadan Murley were among those wearing strobe goggles - whose lenses flickered between being clear and opaque - while they attempted to catch high balls.

Fly-half George Ford, safely on the other side of the training pitch, enjoyed the spectacle of the glasses.

"We've been watching from afar and laughing and giggling at a few things," he said.

But, it is a serious business - and it is Duncan Locke's business.

He is the head of performance services and innovation at England Rugby. Or, alternatively, the RFU's 'Q' - the movie character who provides British spy James Bond with high-tech gadgets - tasked with finding the technology that will help England's men and women out in the field.

"The strobe glasses work by improving cognitive processing time," Locke explained to BBC Sport.

"It trains the players to process the flight of the ball quicker to help with that high-ball work that's so important."

Locke's CV is ideally suited to his current role. Born and raised in Gloucester, his first love was rugby. But his first job was as part of the UK Sports Institute staff, helping Great Britain's track cycling team around the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

He saw firsthand how a culture of chasing marginal gains - in skin suits, bike components, hand hygiene, sleep and the rest - powered Sir Chris Hoy and Victoria Pendleton to leave the rest of the world in their wake.

"It was really enjoyable to be a part of and really eye-opening for me," added Locke.

"But rugby's my sport, and when the opportunity came up to join England, I definitely wasn't going to turn it down."

At first Locke was on the frontline as a laptop-wielding analyst, initially for head coach Martin Johnson and then his successor Stuart Lancaster.

In 2017, he shifted upstairs into a more strategic role, attempting to find the new gadgets, gizmos and workflows to give England an edge on the pitch.

England are well resourced, but time and money are finite. Locke can't afford to waste either on an innovation that fails to deliver.

He estimated that he has reviewed close to 60 different pieces of technology over the past two years and put only five or six to use.

"There are so many start-ups and new technology firms, it would be easy to be almost hoodwinked by the latest flashy gadgets," said Locke.

"Our job is to make sure that whatever we look to implement is valid in terms of the research that it works, it's cost efficient, and, most importantly, it's going to have an impact and help answer a performance question."

England's next match poses an obvious puzzle. On Saturday, they play South Africa at Ellis Park in Johannesburg, 1,724 metres above sea level. At that altitude, the air has a weaker concentration of oxygen. Fail to prepare, prepare to flail and wheeze in the final quarter.

But it is tricky to acclimatise in south-west London.

So, after weighing up scientific literature and the realities of how much time they had with players, Locke and England's coaches hooked them up to hypoxic masks, which recreate conditions at altitude of more than 3,000m, for intensive stationary bike sessions.

It should result in increased aerobic capacity and resilience when they face the four-time world champions on Saturday.

More general skills are also sharpened on the cutting edge.

Quarterbacks in American football's NFL are trained to recognise defensive patterns and open space, using a headset or big screen to show them the start of a play from their own point of view. , externalThe screen will blank and they will have to identify where the attacking opportunity is opening up.

England's decision-makers now use the same technology, with the speed of the footage cranked up and the time to act trimmed back to place them under increasing pressure.

As well as taking note from across the Atlantic, England have looked at other industries.

Training is now filmed by drones to give teams the best view of their overall shape and potential weak points.

Computer vision - a branch of artificial intelligence primarily developed for surveillance - enables analysis cameras to recognise individual players and track them autonomously through the chaos and collisions of a session.

Locke has also looked at learning theory in education, to ensure coaches' messages are delivered most effectively for individual players.

"It is so different how you engage and interact with players who are 17 or 18 and, starting their journey in our pathway compared to those who are 32, 33, 34 years old," he said.

"We need to adjust feedback styles to make sure we're delivering things in a way that is optimally digestible.

"With younger players, that might be short snippets of information. With this social media generation, whether it's TikTok, Instagram stories, we think about how we can harness some of those processes they've got built into their normal life, but make them suitable for the rugby environment."

One of the greatest impacts technology can have is in getting the best players on the pitch in the first place.

Data sharing between club and country allows England to now monitor the load players are under and who might be susceptible to injury and in need of rest.

Wireless electromyography (EMG) sensors gives a precise, immediate measure of how injured muscles are recovering, while limb tracking, once only possible in an expensive, specialist facility, is now done pitchside on iPads to iron out any potentially problematic imbalances in sprint technique.

Earlier this month, he posted footage of his players , externalusing virtual reality headsets, apparently catching virtual balls coming at them at various angles.

Locke is keen to stress none of the these innovations are going to revolutionise rugby. They are instead cycling-style marginal gains that support coaches' decisions and supplement the hard work of players.

And there are parts of preparation that technology can't reach, where the human touch trumps all.

"There's a really good quote from the field of sociology that runs, 'not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts'," added Locke.

"We know we're fortunate to have data to inform our decision-making, but relationships and emotions are so inherent and important to the game.

"We want to be sure we have the balance to give the coaches everything they need to challenge or to support perception and to try to remove bias.

"But at the same time, that intuition piece, that feel piece, the experience piece is really important to prepare a team and make good decisions."