Warren Gatland has revealed his Wales players were put in hoods, doused in water and subjected to the sound of babies crying as part of their psychological preparation for the forthcoming Rugby World Cup.
Gatland lifted the lid on the extraordinary lengths Wales were going to when detailing a recent visit to the Green Mile army-style fitness camp in Taff’s Well. He explained how the intention was to take players out of their comfort zones and prepare them to deal with unexpected challenges but the use of such extreme techniques has raised eyebrows.
“We went to the Green Mile with the army and it was a brilliant day but it wasn’t brutal,” said Gatland. “It was more from a psychological challenge that we put them through. They did some power endurance stuff, they were carrying logs uphill and then having to go into a pool. We were talking about putting them in uncomfortable positions, where it’s: ‘How do you bring your heart rate down? How do you get your composure back?’
“They did some stuff where we had them put in hoods, having water tipped over them when they weren’t expecting it. Babies crying, things going off, and it wasn’t a full day. We went there in the morning and finished about 1pm. The boys had a bit of lunch, we put some beers on – some had a beer and stayed there for about an hour and enjoyed each other’s company and had some laughs, had some photos with the guys, presented them with a jersey, it was a really good company that was a little bit different.
“[Strength and conditioning coach] Huw Bennett organised it and he was worried about how it was going to go, a bit apprehensive about the day but all the feedback we got from the players was really positive. It was different and made them think about things from a different perspective, in terms of being in stressful situations, being in a game where you don’t expect things and how do you react to that. You make a mistake, you come under a huge amount of pressure, how do you get your composure back? … Trying to relate to those situations. Yeah we’ve been working hard but every day is not brutal, I can promise you that.”
Gatland is not the first to turn to the military to put players through their paces before a World Cup campaign. Four years ago Eddie Jones took his England squad to an RAF base in Cornwall for a night of survival training, though there were no reports of players being put in hoods, nor subjected to the sound of babies crying.
The Springboks took things to the extreme with their infamous Kamp Staaldraad (Camp Barbed Wire) before their quarter-final elimination at the 2003 World Cup. Details of what South Africa’s players were subjected to at the boot camp soon emerged, including allegedly having to withstand freezing cold temperatures while naked in a lake, crawling across gravel and into a foxhole naked while the English national anthem was played at full blast and having to kill chickens with their bare hands.
