Steve Borthwick was impressed with his players' in Italy after criticism of their poor condition during the Six Nations Championship. Credit: David Rodgers/Getty Images
Steve Borthwick stepped up England's World Cup preparations by inviting his players to train in extreme heat in the Italian city of Verona, where temperatures soared above 40C.
England's head coach spent with their players for a grueling 50-minute workout at the Payanini Sports Complex, home of Verona Rugby Club, on Tuesday afternoon as part of a heat stress training program designed to prepare them both physically and mentally for “extreme moments”. ” test match.
Italy is currently experiencing a heat wave and weather forecasters are predicting temperatures could break the European record this week, with temperatures on the islands of Sicily and Sardinia expected to reach 48C due to the anticyclone. named Cerberus.
Bortwick explained that training in such a harsh and exhausting environment benefited both their physical fitness and their ability to make decisions under stress.
England were originally scheduled to hold a week-long camp in Treviso, where they were based in 2019, but Borthwick moved to the state-of-the-art camp used by the Italian national team after he took over from Eddie Jones in December.
Joe Marler and Johnny Hill take the ball out. Photo: David Rogers/Getty Images. exercising in hot weather,” said Borthwick.
“Exercising in more temperate climates has physiological benefits. I think it will do us good. It also affects how you think.
“When you train in the heat and I have seen and experienced it as a player, you think clearly under a different type of pressure and make players think in the situations we give them when they are under pressure. physical and emotional stress from training in the heat.
The 41-man team, which is based in Verona until Saturday, trained under similar conditions on Monday, and also practiced ball skills and strength training on Tuesday morning. Ollie Lawrence is also in Italy with the team as he continues his rehab following a knee injury. He is expected to take part in four World Cup warm-up matches in England.
The training program was developed by Professor Graham Close, a sports nutritionist at Liverpool John Moores University, who has been working with England since 2014 under the supervision of the chief team coach Aled Walters.
The Borthwick program is designed for the physical, mental and tactical development of players. Photo: David Rogers/Getty Images
“Graham gave us real clarity on when we should train, how we would acclimate to the conditions, then Aled puts that into the program.
react more extreme to heat, everyone has a different reaction to heat, different levels of sweating. We understand where each of the players is.
“I told the players that we are here to develop physically, we are here to develop the way we think, and we are here to develop tactically,” added Borthwick. “We told them what the tactics for the week would be. What areas will we tactically strive to develop. In this way, we give players a clear indication of why we are forcing them to do what they do. It is concrete and purposeful.”
Borthwick said the ability to handle extreme conditions will be critical to England's hopes of hosting the World Cup in France. The England manager was critical of his players' fitness during the Six Nations campaign when they lost three out of five games in their third consecutive season, but was impressed with the way they physically presented themselves at World Cup training camp.
“You have to be physically ready for the toughest situations in the game,” added Borthwick. “There are extreme moments in the game, and test matches are very intense. Therefore, if you are not prepared for such extreme moments, they are the ones that can make you or break you.
“If you are better prepared for these extreme moments than your opponent, you will get a decisive result in the match. a game. If not, you may concede a decisive outcome or make a bad or excellent decision, depending on how prepared you are. We need to prepare to be ready to play the way we want to in the toughest test match conditions.
“I'm not trying to fool the players; I say what we do and for what purpose. The task is for them to succeed, to show their best, and today we will move forward a little. And tomorrow we'll be moving forward again.
“We have Aled Walters leading this section of our program, and in 2019 he coached a [winning South African] team that was in very, very good shape. They were brilliantly prepared. Then the person who ran England's 2019 prep program was Tom Tombleson, who assists Aleda. So I trust these two guys, they understand how to prepare a team.”
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