World Cup 2023: Beauty and the beasting - inside Wales' gruelling Swiss training camp
- Published
Wales head coach Warren Gatland watches his players training in Fiesch
Live high. Train lower. It has been the mantra for Wales' preparation for the past two World Cups and the dose has been repeated in the picturesque Swiss Alps before this year's global tournament in France.
Head coach Warren Gatland has once more brought his squad to the quaint alpine village of Fiesch, which is just 10 miles from the border with Italy and has a population of less than 1,000.
The area is a designated a World Heritage site by Unesco because of its spectacular view of the Jungfrau-Aletsch mountain range.
The stunning mountain scenery, the multitude of paragliders hovering in the skies during the day and shooting stars at night does not necessarily conjure up the usual images of preparing for a Rugby World Cup.
But the searing heat, with temperatures topping 30C, and the altitude bring benefits and has proved effective in Wales' preparations for the 2015 and 2019 tournaments.
The majority of these players have been on mini-camps over the past six weeks at the Vale of Glamorgan base near Cardiff, where they have already been put through their paces.
This two-week trip is the next step before another training camp in Turkey at the end of July and warm-up games against England and South Africa in August.
"It's definitely a highlight of our World Cup pre-season preparations," said Wales head of physical performance Huw Bennett.
"When we come to Switzerland it's not for them to feel the sessions are easier, it's so we can push them harder. When we come here we want to take it to another level and all the players have bought into that.
"Every four years you see a big change in how you go about things. It is our third time here, but we are tweaking things and it is not copy and paste."
Moving Wales to Switzerland
Huw Bennett says Wales players are reaping the benefits of their gruelling training sessions
The logistics of bringing about 70 people and all the equipment out to Switzerland was one of the first major challenges. The venue is effectively a ski resort in the winter and a camp for children in the summer.
Although it is the home of Fiesch Football Club, there is no gym on site so that needed to be transported across the continent by lorry, with one set of rugby posts also needing to be sourced.
There are early starts for the players with breakfast about 06:30 BST and training sessions starting 90 minutes later.
The squad are based at the top of a mountain about 2,300 metres above sea level with the journey from hotel to training pitch via a 10-minute gondola ride.
So the players are able to see the scene where they will be flogged for the next few hours. And the double sessions mean they get this privilege twice in one day.
The squad train about 1,000 metres lower than where they stay but even at their lowest levels, the players are training at the equivalent height of Wales' highest mountain.
"We get the benefits from the live high, train low method and also from the unique experience of being here," said Bennett.
"We live at altitude and up there you get the natural adaptations of living at altitude like increased haemoglobin mass and better transport of oxygen around the body.
"By training lower it means you don't compromise on the intensity of your training.
"The guys get the natural adaptations when they're at the top and when they come down the bottom, we don't have to hold back on anything in terms of our intensity and accuracy.
"There is no excuse for anything falling by. The players come down on the gondola in 10 minutes and know what's coming and what they've got to look forward to.
"They can see other groups working on the pitch as they're coming down and they know as they do, the mindset is they're here to work hard and get the job done."
The Wales squad are training in two different groups in Switzerland
Former Wales hooker Bennett knows what the players are going through, having played in three World Cups himself and been part of the backroom staff for another two tournaments.
The physical demands include gruelling gym sessions, flipping tyres and lung-busting conditioning games alongside the usual skills work.
"The boys have got a good attitude to what's going on out here," said Bennett.
"We give them an insight sometimes into what the session is. Sometimes we let the rumours run because it's quite funny what comes back."
Wales have lost a lot of experience before the tournament with Alun Wyn Jones, Justin Tipuric and Rhys Webb retiring from international rugby and Ken Owens missing with a back injury.
Some remaining experienced players knew what to expect in Switzerland. Full-back Liam Williams is one of those on his second visit having missed the camp in 2015 because of injury.
"It's good to be here, this is our job," said Williams.
"It is nice to be at home, train in the Vale and go home because that means I can go home to my wife.
"This is a huge opportunity to play in a third Rugby World Cup so I am putting in the work whether it is at the Vale or here.
"We know we are here for two weeks so you have to get your head down and work hard and hopefully you will see those gains on the pitch."
Scarlets duo join the Scrum V podcast to describe 'nightmare' fitness camp
Hooker Ryan Elias is also on his second Switzerland stint.
"I don't think you ever get used to it," Elias said.
"I have done it before and had nightmares for four years remembering how hard it was. On the way out here this time I was trying to convince myself maybe I bigged it up too much in my head and made it sound worse than it was.
"But now I am here again it definitely was this hard. It is hard graft but the carrot at the end is the World Cup. That is why you put yourself through it."
Others like Scarlets prop Kemsley Mathias are experiencing this for the first time.
"There is the altitude and the heat and we are getting flogged, so all those three things together means it is really tough," said Mathias.
"Coming into camp the boys just talk about the horrors of four years ago and what is to come. So you know it's going to be tough but maybe not this tough.
"This is what good teams need to prepare themselves for a World Cup."
Beauty and the beasting
Wales centre Mason Grady recovers during a gruelling training session
There is some respite. After three days hard work there will be a day off with activities like golf and mountain biking available.
"When they go back up on the gondola, they switch off and enjoy each other's company," said Bennett.
"Those are the benefits of why you come somewhere like this for a training camp, building that bond between the players."
Williams added: "The place is beautiful. You wake up in the morning, you look outside, you are on top of mountains and sometimes you are even in the clouds. Or if not that, the sun is out beaming.
"You are more than 2,000 metres above sea level and it's glorious. When you have to come down and train, that's the hard graft is the reason why we are here."
There is a brutal reality that hovers over all the players, that all this training might not gain any World Cup reward as Gatland continually keeps an eye on proceedings.
Forty-five players travelled out initially with number eight Taulupe Faletau joining them a week in as he recovers from a calf injury, while Owen Williams and Alex Cuthbert stayed at home.
That means 48 will eventually become 33 when Gatland names his finished World Cup squad in late August after the final warm-up game against South Africa in Cardiff.
It is just the highs and lows of elite sport.
Beck's back to solve macabre crime in Stockholm: Watch the hypochondriac detective and his team on BBC iPlayer now
The cosmic culture war between Marvel and DC comics: Uncover the story of one of the greatest rivalries in the history of pop culture
