Sam Warburton has revealed a unique example of the mind games Warren Gatland plays with his players the day before announcing his teams.
Former British and Irish Lions captain Warburton appeared as a guest on The Socially Distant Sports Bar podcast, which is hosted by Steff Garrero, Mike Bubbins and Elis James.
The Wales legend began the tale by explaining he hated the idea that Wales loved being underdogs going in to games.
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He said: "The problem with Wales is people say, 'oh we like being underdogs', and that is a Welsh psyche but I was always like, 'no we f*****g don't, I hate being underdog. I haven't sacrificed so much to be number two', do you know what I mean?
"I remember that's what Gats tried to get out of us. On a Monday he would put the bibs out from 1-15. They'd pick the team on a Tuesday, so the day before team announcement.
"On a Monday, we'd go out for an afternoon session and he'd go, 'right, starting XV to play England pick up the bibs', and he hadn't named the team."
"Ooh love it!" said host Garrero.
"Shut up!" said co-host Bubbins.
Warburton continued: "I'm not just saying this to be funny, it was true, but Mike Phillips f*****g walked straight to the nine every time! And he was the only one just standing in the middle of the pitch with the nine shirt on like, 'f*****g come on lads'. But Gats loved that. He wanted you to be more like that."
Warburton made his Wales debut in 2009 and went on to captain his country at the 2011 Rugby World Cup. He would be a two-time Lions tourist as skipper before retiring due to injuries in 2018 at just 29.
The Socially Distant Sports Bar posted a clip of the story to their Twitter account, and Mike Phillips himself retweeted it with the flexing bicep and thumbs up emojis, saying "true.".
You can watch the clip below:
"This is my favourite rugby anecdote ever!" commented one.
"I can confirm that Mike took a similar approach to games of bulldogs at school..." commented Phillips' school teacher.
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