When it comes to Wales’ World Cup preparations under Warren Gatland, the narrative has always revolved around one thing: fitness.
Speak to anyone who was present in 2011 and they’ll shudder at the mention of Poland. Members of the 2015 and 2019 camp would be only too aware of the beastings coming up in Switzerland and Turkey.
In recent weeks, training sessions have been described by the Welsh Rugby Union’s own website as ‘brutal’, while Gatland has said he won’t be apologising for pushing players ‘to the limit’.
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There’s been SAS-style training and things will only be ramped up as Wales go from mini-camps to full-on training camps away from the Vale of Glamorgan.
Wales, particularly given the early start of the mini-camps following the regions’ premature finishes last season, have a long, long time to get the fitness right.
Conversely, they have a long, long time to work on those rugby fundamentals as well.
Gatland has always made a point of emphasising that coaching hours in regular campaigns are somewhat limited. However, World Cup summers are different.
The upturn in minutes on the training pitch are hard to underestimate. Crucially, that offers some of Wales’ newer coaches more time than they’d have been afforded during the Six Nations.
Alex King in attack and Mike Forshaw in defence were thrown into their first tournament with Wales earlier this year at relatively short notice.
After the first month of Wales’ camp being fitness-heavy, the rugby side of things is coming to the fore – even as Wales prepare to head to Switzerland and Turkey this month.
During the Six Nations, we saw little details and nuances that would suggest where things might head, but – given the time restraints – it was largely about broader strokes.
For King and Forshaw, this summer should allow them to look at things more closely.
“For them it’s been about being able to put that detail in,” said Gatland. “The great thing about World Cups is you feel like you are going back to a club side and having day-to-day stuff where you have a chance to do the sort of in-depth coaching you don’t normally get.
“Even with the warm-up games we might mix and match with the way we want to play against different teams.
“We might be a bit more direct and take a team on physically and then be a bit more expansive. The whole thing is about preparing and getting ready for the World Cup.”
Attack, as it often is, is perhaps where there’s more interest on what Wales will do. In a parallel universe, the promise of expansive rugby under Wayne Pivac might have worked out and Wales could have been heading to France playing attacking rugby.
Of course, that didn’t materialise and now – as Gatland admits about the conflict of styles above – Wales are not on the same trajectory as other nations.
There’s a lot of work to be done to catch up. Getting an eye-catching and exciting attack before France would be nice.
Getting an effective and efficient one is more important, though.
King has spoken in the past about what he wants to do to Wales’ attack, with little subtleties from 2019 – like using outside backs as pick-and-go options after starter plays to generate quick ball – seeping in.
Above all, there’s the sense that, like in 2019 when Wales were World Cup semi-finalists, there’s a desire for a low-key accuracy. Rob Howley’s attack at that point wasn’t always aesthetically pleasing, nor did it come with the feeling of excitement that someone like France can produce.
But there was a clinical efficiency to it at times. Wales, however they decide to attack, will need that after a Six Nations largely defined by red-zone inefficiency.
Whatever shape they do end up with, instilling confidence in it will be key. Often during the last four years, Wales didn’t appear to have complete buy-in with what they were trying to do with ball in hand. The extra time should help that.
“Like I said we’ve been doing a lot of skill work, trying to put the ball through the players’ hands at least 200 or 300 times a session with passing and different drills,” added Gatland.
“We’ve been working on our on-one-one stuff and passing, running some good lines and keeping the guys square. Probably one of the criticisms of our attack in the Six Nations was we got lateral on occasions.
“It’s about guys getting their hands up early and staying square, looking at two lines of attack. It’s what a lot of teams are doing. It’s about the players understanding that with the way the game is at the moment, there is so little space.
“Defences have got more and more organised. The ascendency of the game is more on the defensive side of things and so particularly in an attacking situation it’s about keeping composure, being comfortable going through phases, and trying to run some plays where you get someone to do a defensive misread that creates some space or a hole to hopefully go through which you can exploit.
“It’s so difficult other than potentially from set-piece to go around people unless you’re looking to sweep and looking to shorten teams up. Those are discussions we’re having. At the moment we’re looking to introduce that sort of stuff. It will be messy and it was at the start but we expected that in terms of an attack point of view.
“We want to confuse the defence and be able to create some misreads. Now we are getting the time we don’t normally get in normal campaigns.”
