HOW TO TRAIN THE DRAGONS
QUADRUPLE ESPRESSO SHAKES, STEAK NIGHTS AND RECOVERY SMOOTHIES…
FROM altitude chambers that replicate conditions at 4,000 metres to cryotherapy units that plunge temperatures to -160°C, via steak nights and quadruple espresso caffeine shakes, Wales have left no stone unturned before the biggest game of their season.
When England come to Cardiff in the Six Nations on Saturday they will meet a Wales side who have not lost in 12 months. With players in their ranks who can run 23.5mph, a Dutch sprint coach who England tried to steal, and bespoke menus to fill them with 3,500 calories a day, before the fire and brimstone comes the science and technology in professional sport.
Sportsmail was given exclusive access to their camp in the Vale of Glamorgan to see how Wales are preparing for their biggest Test.
THE BARN
‘HERE is where we build our victories,’ reads the vast sign on one side of the indoor facility, repeated on the other side in Welsh.
Wales regularly train on the halfsized 4G pitch which was relaid with the most up-to-date surface last year.
The Barn is the nerve centre. It’s tucked away up the hill, away from the Vale hotel where players — in the same room each campaign — and punters alike sleep.
Near one of the golf holes at the Vale resort is head coach Warren Gatland’s flat, his home when he is staying in Cardiff.
The national squad, women’s team, Under 20s and sevens players all train under one roof, with the senior men’s area positioned at the back.
In their area a picture of every current Six Nations squad member is placed on corridor walls. Gatland and other coaches’ offices are upstairs, with an analysis suite.
In rooms off the half-pitch are housed a bespoke cryotherapy chamber, the altitude room and a mini-hospital complete with 10 beds and technology such as ultrasound. Unlike England’s set-up, all this is on the same site.
In the main room, humidity or heat can be altered and during full-on sessions music blares.
The forwards undertake a lineout session, two teams jumping against each other with every player wearing grippy gloves. Captain Alun Wyn Jones defies a sore throat to bark orders.
Having the indoor pitches nextdoor to the gym allows players to go from rugby work to gym work and back again speedily.
Wales are building a new gym solely for the men’s national team for the build-up to the World Cup. It will be four times bigger than the current one and could include a wrestling area as well as the usual bikes, dumb-bells and running machines. Currently they do their weights sessions three times a week in a decade-old facility.
Senior players are re in earliest — going through ‘pre-hab’ re-hab’ stretching routines — and leave last, setting standards.
ALTITUDE CHAMBER
AS WELL as having humidity training in Turkey, Wales will travel to Fiesch in Switzerland before the World Cup for a high-altitude camp. But they also so have their own Swiss conditions in an altitude chamber to the side of The Barn.
Vents suck the oxygen out of a sealed room and can make the atmosphere inside the equivalent to that at 4,000m. This provides all the natural benefits of the Swiss Alps, as sports scientist Ryan Chambers explains.
‘Because of the lack of oxygen it allows us to reach the fatiguing point sooner, and we can then work them harder without the same amount of output,’ he says.
‘Our research shows that the more sessions we do in the chamber the more high-intensity, highspeed running players can tolerate down the line.’
The altitude room is only used in non-Test weeks and is a dark, moody environment with neon lights li ht flashing fl hi and d music i pumping i as the players work on Watt bikes and other equipment.
CRYOTHERAPY UNITS
A HALLMARK of the Gatland era is the now-permanent cryotherapy chamber in a room off The Barn. Strength and conditioning coach Huw Bennett says: ‘I remember when Warren came in when I was a player and said, “How do we expect them to be the best athletes if we don’t have the best facilities?”’
Used after every session, the chamber plunges to temperatures of -160°C. Players strip down to shorts, put on clogs to protect their feet and wear masks. A prechamber set at around -90°C gets them used to the cold before they spend two and a half minutes in the main area. area As the door opens, opens cold vapour billows out.
‘It is a more rapid flush out of the system than a sauna or a bath,’ says Chambers. ‘If you took a bottle of water in with you it would be solid when you came out.’
FOOD & SUPPLEMENTS
FUEL for the fight is vital. Wales take chef Andre Moore, who previously worked with Michel Roux Jnr.’s Le Gavroche restaurant team, around the world with them.
And with Jon Williams, the nutritionist, they try to fill the players with 3,500 calories a day. On average that includes 250g of protein (1,000 calories), 400g of carbohydrates (1,600 calories) and 100g of fat (900 calories). Breakfast is a constant, with eggs aplenty, but themed nights mix things up during the week. Grill nights on Mondays and Thursdays are popular.
‘We have 12oz fillet steaks,’ says Williams. ‘I try to get red meat into them two or three times a week. The boys like a steak!
‘Andre is so good that the players don’t look for snacks or treats. We do things with a twist like a healthy protein cheesecake so they think they’re getting a treat!’
Menus are meticulously planned so the World Cup causes logistical headaches. Wales will stay in eight different hotels in Japan, and sent specific menus to each before Christmas detailing whether they will want poached or scrambled eggs on a specific day in October.
Wales get through a huge amount
of supplements, from recovery smoothies to caffeine drinks.
They took five pallets of supplements to their week-long camp in Nice between the France and Italy matches, with a combination of water, isotonic drinks and recovery products all created by Williams.
For Japan they will ship out 24 pallets — three for each hotel — eight weeks in advance with the help of DHL to make sure all products will be in date when needed.
The nutritionist designs the supplements via his company PAS Nutrition, which he set up in 2006 with former British sprinter Darren Campbell and also supplies 90 professional football clubs.
On match day, around 40 minutes before kick-off, most players will drink a ‘game-ready’ concoction of concentrated amino-acid drink with a high caffeine dose. It contains 300mg of caffeine, the equivalent to a quadruple espresso.
‘People think that’s crazy but it’s a safe, effective amount based on research,’ Williams explains.
Post-match, or when a player leaves the field, there is a ‘threestage’ recovery drink selection:
1) an easy-to-drink light isotonic with an electrolyte mix in it for on the pitch or bench.
2) A recovery smoothie to reduce inflammation.
3) A recovery snack, like a protein bar or cookie, before a sitdown meal at the function.
‘Sometimes you have a bad loss and no one wants to eat,’ Williams adds. ‘And sometimes you have a good win and no one wants to eat because they want to celebrate!’
‘We can sort the training out, we can’t do anything about the results,’ says head of athletic performance Paul ‘Bobby’ Stridgeon. ‘If the boys get a good sleep and are well fed they are fine.’
DATA CRUNCH & SPRINTS
ALMOST nothing is left undocumented. When players returned from two days off last week their body-fat percentages were tested and daily data-gathering charts heart-rates, weight, sleep patterns and hydration.
In training, just as in matches, each player is fitted with a GPS unit into the back of their shirts.
‘We get total distance covered, how much time in different zones of running (walk, jog, sprint), changes of directions, accelerations, decelerations, number of scrums, contacts, jumps,’ says Chambers.
That is how they know George North hit 23.5mph in a recent match and decide to ramp up sessions or calm them down. In down weeks, to the envy of other Six Nations sides, Wales enlist the help of world-renowned coach Frans Bosch, a Dutch bio-mechanic, to work on sprint techniques.
Bosch, who has worked with the British & Irish Lions, Eddie Jones’ Japanese rugby team, West Ham and NFL franchises, was coveted by England, who reportedly offered him a significant rise to move across the Severn Bridge.
TRAINING
SHORT, sharp and intense is Gatland’s mantra. The real rugby sessions are on the outdoor pitches — 40 minutes is often plenty. One pitch on the campus is an exact replica of the Principality Stadium’s surface.
All training is filmed by a bird’s eye camera and the ‘Castle’ pitch has a tent next to it which houses a mini-analysis suite.
After their win in Italy, training was full on, as Bennett explained: ‘It was everything — we had fitness testing, full live contact and game scenarios.’
Tuesday is the biggest rugby day here, and the players then do shorter, sharper, faster and less physical sessions for the rest of the week until the match.
‘Every session needs to be close to, if not above game intensity,’ says Bennett. ‘If you don’t train at that level you will find it hard to get to on Saturday. When you set that stall out the players relish it.
‘The intensity will be high in every session — there are no 60 or 70 per cent sessions.’
WALES WILL BE READY
‘ALL we have to do is rev the boys up, push them hard, and away they go,’ adds Stridgeon. ‘If you combine that with the willingness of the boys to work hard, then it’s just great for us. This is the best squad I’ve been involved in.’