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.
Alun Wyn Jones roars as he works through an intensive gym session at Wales' training camp
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 half-sized 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.
Wales are gearing up for the biggest Test when they face England at the Principality Stadium
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.
All of Wales' facilities and teams are based on the same site in the Vale of Glamorgan
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 in earliest — going through ‘pre-hab’ stretching routines — and leave last, setting standards.
The national squad, women’s team, Under 20s and sevens players all train under one roof
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 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, high-speed 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 flashing and music pumping as the players work on Watt bikes and other equipment.
Senior players are in earliest and leave last to ensure they are setting standards for the squad
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 pre-chamber set at around -90°C gets them used to the cold before they spend two and a half minutes in the main area. As the door 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.’
George North (left) and Gareth Davies ttake part in a cryotherapy session as part of recovery
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
