Brown sheds half a stone at World Cup boot camp
Training in Italy aims to replicate heat of Japan Full-back trying to force way into England squad
The heat and humidity at England’s World Cup training camp in Italy have been so draining that players have been losing around half a stone in weight during training sessions – more than three times as much as during a Test match.
Humidity has reached 90 per cent in Treviso, with temperatures also soaring above 30C (86F). The base was selected to prepare the players for Japanese conditions.
Mike Brown, the Harlequins fullback, revealed he has been losing 3kg (6.6lb) during England’s intense conditioning sessions, compared to the maximum of 1kg (2.2lb) during an international match.
“It’s incredibly tough,” said Brown. “It’s about 80 per cent humidity today so as soon as you step outside, everyone starts sweating. You are absolutely dripping and that makes ball-handling very tough.
“And also, for your core temperature, it is hard to keep that low, because you are sweating all the time and it just sits on your skin and then heats up even more so you can’t get your body temperature down.
“So you are constantly feeling incredibly hot. It is really sunny here as well, so just to try and keep your core temperature down is the hardest thing. We have got things in place in training to do that – guys coming on and spraying you with cold water. [We are] constantly trying to wipe the sweat off you so your skin gets the chance to cool down.”
To combat the effects they have been taking drinking water with salts, protein shakes and eating protein bars and fruit.
‘‘We weigh ourselves at the start of sessions and then after so you know how much you have lost. The nutrition guys make sure you get the right things after training to put that weight on. For example, our first really hard session I lost 3kg of weight. So it’s about getting the fluids back on and eating more after a session.
“In England I would probably barely lose any weight from a normal session in normal conditions. After a Test match, I would probably lose a maximum of 1kg. And that’s playing at the highest level under massive fatigue. So that puts into perspective the weight loss that you can get over here. Once you have taken all the right things, we will go and eat lunch and you are pretty much back on it by the afternoon session no problem – as long as you do the right things.”
Brown is hoping to book a place in the 31-man World Cup party, having been overlooked for the first training squad.
“I am a competitive animal, and I absolutely love playing for England, it means everything to me,” added Brown, who won the last of his 72 caps against South Africa in June last year.
“That’s why I work so hard, off the field and on the field. So it is great to be here and I am trying to show what I am about and show what I can bring to the team. And also making sure I am competing so the team are also in a good place for whoever Eddie [Jones] picks.”