Marcos Nevel is a Gracie jiujitsu coach and also works with the Canterbury Bulldogs NRL side and the New South Wales State of Origin team.
He was in Dunedin to meet New Zealand Fight and Fitness Academy owner Ryan Henry, who works with the Highlanders.
Nevel, originally from Brazil, has been training in jiujitsu for 23 years, holding a black belt for 14 years. He moved to Australia in 2007.
He got involved with the Bulldogs through one of his students, former Australian forward Jim Dymock, who is the assistant coach of the club.
Nevel's role with the Bulldogs includes working with players on controlling the tackle, and teaching balance and body control for purposes such as slowing the game down or speeding it up. He also teaches smaller players ways to control and lower bigger players.
While in Dunedin, he also met Highlanders strength and conditioning coach Andrew Beardmore to share some ideas and have a look around the Highlanders' base.
Nevel understood the differences between rugby and rugby league. With rugby league, slowing the game down by pinning the opponent was important, while in rugby that would lead to a player being penalised.
Balance at the breakdown was very important in rugby, with the need to stay upright.
Also vitally important was coming off your feet and rolling away with good body control and timing to get back in the game quickly.
Jiujitsu was helpful in this regard, as it helped players get back on their feet quickly and get their body into good tackling positions.
