Aled Walters gives instructions to Jack Willis and Jamie George in the England camp ahead of the World Cup in Italy. Photo: Getty Images/David Rogers
England has found itself in a difficult position this summer. It was a deep, dark hole deliberately dug by strength director Aled Walters to keep the players underground during their miserable warm-up matches.
Saturday's performance against Argentina, in which they played 77 matches. minutes with 14 players was the result of England's players climbing out of their hole and blinking into the light.
“That’s what it was: the work paid off,” Walters said. “Look, people are going to worry, aren't they? They thought: “The World Cup is just around the corner and they look terrible.” They don't look right. They look terrible — they lack energy.» But we knew exactly what awaited us, and the players knew too.
“In Ireland week — and you guys might think this is the most ridiculous thing — if you look at the GPS data, we more or less played a game on Tuesday and then played Ireland on Saturday. Do you get confidence from this? Yes. We lost, but we ended up in one of the most difficult places.”
It was a bold strategy by head coach Steve Borthwick as England entered the tournament with no momentum after five defeats in six games, but one that Walters felt was absolutely necessary. And Walters should know. It was through his program that South Africa became world champions in 2019 and Leicester Premier League champions in 2022.
Unlike the Springboks, with whom the Welshman had two years to hone his training, Walters only joined the England squad in June, forcing him to put the players through intensive driving courses. “The best I can say is we had 10 or 11 weeks to prepare and it's like a crash course,” Walters said. “We didn't have the advantage that a lot of countries had when we spent four or eight years with the same coaches and the same players. So yes, we looked leggy, but I'm glad we looked leggy because if we hadn't looked leggy in the August test, we wouldn't have done enough.
“There was a very, very famous Australian swimming coach who worked with the British Olympic team many years ago, Bill Sweetenham. He made sure that the swimmers came out tired to the World Championships, which just preceded the Olympics. They won several medals, but he knew that if you can perform when you are tired and lacking energy, what will you be like when you are free from fatigue and energetic?
Walters speaks to Steve Borthwick during the World Cup warm-up match with Ireland in Dublin. Photo: Getty Images/David Rogers England showed the benefits of their intense physical preparation against Argentina in the opening match of the World Cup. Photo: AP/Pavel Golovkin
And yet it can be difficult to understand. As Walters admits, the England players began their summer training in excellent shape. However, to achieve the success England needed to keep pace with the top teams, Walters had to first break the players down. Hence the hole.
“To make someone more fit, you almost have to put them in a hole first to give them a chance to recover and then get stronger,” Walters said. “We have put them in such a hole in pre-season that they will only reap the rewards of their work. We saw the start of this match on Saturday against Argentina. The fresher they become, the stronger they will become.
“This is not the first time that the guys who go to the Tour de France work very hard. They worked incredibly hard in the mountains. Were they unusable six weeks ago? No, they were simply under-restored. What we saw on Saturday was the culmination, the first stage, so it was satisfying.”
Exactly what the pain pit looks like depends on the individual, with those who have to do extra physical training during a suspension, such as number 8 Billy Vunipola, face special punishment. “The guys who are good at wattbikes, I need to find something else for them,” Walters said. “The guys who are terrible at riding wattbikes, oh, they take bikes quite often.
“Anything that gets them out in the dark helps in the games.”
“Billy is good on a bike, so I know I can get to him on the field. Anything that takes them into the dark, where they become very uncomfortable, where they go “this is not good.” Once you've experienced it enough times and become seasoned, everything they encounter in games should be relatively, «Oh, I can handle this.»
If this all sounds pretty sadistic, at least Walters does it with a smile on his face. As Telegraph Sport previously reported, Walters' wacky sense of humor was a crucial reason why Borthwick appointed him to Leicester and now England.
“I remember the first time I called Steve, it was FaceTime, and he was very, very self-aware and said, “I need someone to smile because I'm not really You really don’t want to do it too often,” Walters said. “He always gave me the right to do whatever I thought was necessary. I think on a couple of occasions he felt I was sabotaging his meetings by shouting nonsense.
“A few years ago Mark Taylor [former Wales centre] said I was the most negative S&C coach he had ever had. saw». I've ever experienced. It cut me to the bone because that's not who I am. It’s difficult with me because I know where we need to move. But I need to smile, and I get energy from people who laugh and smile a lot. This is a real feeling.»
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