Obviously it’s a little bit different between positions. "We’ve had a couple of conditioning sessions, into rugby, then into skills. That’s why we had the mini camps in the Vale but just because they’re fitter doesn’t mean it gets easier. "When we come here we want to take it to another level and all the players have bought into that. "When we come to Switzerland it’s not for them to feel the sessions are easier, it’s so we can push them harder. "The mini camps were about building resilience and the base of a foundation of fitness," said Bennett. That was just the start, however, with players now being tested in the Swiss Alps, where temperatures have pushed 30 degrees over the course of their stay.
Their initial preparations even saw the squad put through an intense bootcamp at The Green Mile outdoor gym in Taff's Well, where they were tested psychologically, being placed in hoods, doused in water and subjected to the sound of babies crying to see how they would cope in high-stress situations. A five-week mini-camp back home in Wales has seen players pushed to their limits in gruelling fitness tests, left dripping in sweat after leaving it all out on the training pitch. Such an approach is needed, having been given the huge task of turning around fitness levels that Warren Gatland said simply weren't good enough during Wales' dismal Six Nations campaign earlier this year.īennett hasn't held back, either, with his beastings already becoming somewhat legendary. He is as fearless as much as he is ruthless, prepared to put his own body on the line to keep his players in top condition, both mentally and physically.
While he may not take to skies this time around, Bennett's willingness to pull such a stunt is quite telling of his approach in his new role as Wales' head of physical performance. READ MORE: Early starts, gruelling sessions and cable cars - Inside Wales' Switzerland World Cup training camp I don't want to replicate what we did then, but we might have something up our sleeve!" The boys were warming up down below and we came paragliding while Mission Impossible was playing. "It was nine days into the camp and I felt like the players needed some kind of pick up, so me and Bobby did it. "I did it up from where we stayed," he explained. The last time Huw Bennett was in Fiesch, Switzerland, he quite literally threw himself into the heart of the action.Īs the former Wales hooker addresses members of the media at the team's World Cup training camp, one of several paragliders occupying the sky above the small valley in the Swiss Alps swoops into view.
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