Rugby World Cup: Wales players put in hoods and doused in water in World Cup preparation

Wales coach Warren Gatland. Photo / Photosport

Wales players subjected to the sound of babies crying and also doused in water as part of their psychological preparation for the Rugby World Cup, coach Warren Gatland has revealed.

The squad visited Green Mile army-style fitness camp in the Welsh village of Taff’s Well but Gatland said it wasn’t brutal with the day accompanied by lunch and beers.

“We went to the Green Mile with the army and it was a brilliant day but it wasn’t brutal,” Gatland told the Guardian.

“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.”

Wales aren’t the first side to go to the extreme to test their players ahead of a World Cup.

The All Blacks went through a series of SAS sessions before the 1999 tournament and four years later the Springboks were put through the shame of Kamp Staaldraad in preparation for the 2003 tournament.

The Springbok squad had been named but coach Rudi Straeuli suggested to them that Camp Barbed Wire would confirm places for the trip to Australia.

He pitched it as a bonding camp but many, including captain Corne Krige, felt degraded and humiliated by their treatment. The players all risked serious injury under conditions at the camp, several hours drive north of Pretoria, where Springbok bodyguard Adriaan Heijns recruited five armed Elite Police Task Force members to help him run the session. It had a military-style emphasis and lasted four days where players were starved, poorly clad, kept awake for long hours and at one stage, had shots fired near them as they thought about a mass exit.

Players marched for hours carrying logs, crawled over rocky ground under barbed wire nets, pumped up rugby balls while submerged in freezing water, spent nights in the bush without food and were pitched into boxing bouts against each other.

They slaughtered then cooked chickens and eggs but were not allowed to eat them, they were ordered, naked, into a tarpaulin-covered pit to listen to looped recordings of the English national anthem and the All Blacks haka as freezing water was poured over them.

Details of the bizarre team-bonding tactics emerged soon after the Springboks 29-9 loss to the All Blacks in the World Cup quarter-final.