Doha: The national rugby team of Wales is training at Aspire Academy ahead of Rugby World Cup in September in the UK.
The team is in Qatar for a 10-day camp. It arrived after spending 15 days in the Swiss Alps, doing high altitude training at 2,250 metres above mean sea level.
The academy’s Aspetar Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Hospital and Training Professor Mathew Wilson pushed the team in challenging weather conditions.
Training was combined with altitude methods with players sleeping in hypoxic chambers that can replicate up to 4,500 metres above sea level, complimenting the ‘live high, sleep low’ methods employed in Switzerland.
Ryan Chambers, Sport Scientist, Welsh Rugby Union, said, “Scientific research shows combining heat and altitude training enables players to perform better in hot conditions and at places with lower temperatures. For players, it has been great, but also tough experience.”
Ken Owens, a team member, said: “We did a lot of hard work. Adapting to the heat, almost double of Wales, was challenging. But conditions here are great, it is fantastic to train at such world-class facilities and push your body to the limit.”
Wales is focussed on winning the Cup, he said. “There is no point being in a tournament if you don’t want to take the trophy home.”
Teammate Rhys Priestland said performances in the group stage would be crucial. “With England and Australia we are facing two very strong teams at an early stage of the Cup, but if we get out of the group stage, anything can happen.”
QNA
