While the Irish squad have been mixing four-day camps at their Carton House base with camps in Galway and Cork, as well as time with their provinces, Wales's World Cup preparations over the last four weeks have been more intensive. They have taken in 15- and 10-day camps at high altitude and heat in Switzerland and Qatar.
Returning to their Vale of Glamorgan base this week, before relocating to north Wales next week, they turned up the heat to 40 degrees at yesterday’s session to replicate the heat stress which the squad endured in Qatar.
"If I reflect on 2011, we're quite a long way ahead now from a conditioning and organisation point of view," said head coach Warren Gatland yesterday.
“We’ve noticed when we run a couple of sides that one side has a bit of an advantage because they have been in situ for quite a long time. That’s why it’s important for a number of players to front up this week.”
Team spirit
With trademark relish, bordering on masochism, the Welsh coach added: “I couldn’t ask for any more input from the players and how hard they have been training. We’ve taken them right to the edge of the cliff and nearly pushed them over the edge on a couple of occasions and they have responded.”
"Someone like Bradley Davies has been running around every training session saying, 'You can't break us'. What impresses me is the team spirit and how much the players are egging each other on, encouraging each other and having high fives and slapping each other on the back at the end of sessions. When you see that sort of stuff, you know we're in a pretty good place mentally."
Of course, there is also the danger of placing an overt emphasis on physical preparation at the expense of skill work and team play, as happened with Ireland in 2007, but Gatland said there had been a shift of emphasis with Saturday’s game looming.
“We haven’t done a huge amount of contact work. We started to pick up on that last week and the forwards had a pretty tasty session this morning where they really ramped it up. They are pretty aware that this is Test week and what that means.
“There were a couple of little fights and niggles at training with the forwards and you expect that. When they are holding and grabbing each other, you can tell there is a little bit of tension in the air. They are pretty aware of how important Saturday is and how important the occasion is and the opportunity open to them.”
Opportunity thus knocks for four uncapped players in the starting line-up, as well as replacements Kristian Dacey and Gareth Anscombe, the 24-year-old ex-Blues and Chiefs' outhalf and son of ex-Ulster coach Mark, who might well have started but for a slight thigh strain. Likewise once-capped Dragons' full-back Hallam Amos.
The Robbie Henshaw-like, 19-year-old Tyler Morgan was pulled from Wales's Under-20 World Cup squad when Jonathan Davies was sidelined.
“For Tyler, the key thing is we don’t put any pressure on him,” said Gatland. “We want him to enjoy the occasion, enjoy the experience and learn from it.
“He’s very similar in a lot of ways to Scott Williams and Jonathan Davies. He’s quick and he’s big for a youngster. We took him out of the Under-20s to be involved with us full-time after Jonathan got injured and he’s continued to improve as the squad has gone along.”
Even so, as Gatland said, "there's still six British and Irish Lions in the squad as well", with Mike Phillips and James Hook renewing their half-back partnership for the first time since 2011.
Assurances
Wales beat Ireland in the quarter-final four years ago and are again in the proverbial pool of sharks, with games against Uruguay, England, Fiji (who beat Samoa 39-29 in the Pacific Nations Cup final yesterday) and Australia. With that schedule in mind, they are liable to arrive at the Aviva Stadium on August 29th locked and fully loaded.
Aside from discussing their selection policy for this Saturday's game, Joe Schmidt rang Gatland last week to also seek assurances that the Millennium Stadium roof would be closed, in contrast to his desire to have it open last March, so as to replicate conditions for Ireland's pool games against Canada and France.
“Joe rang me last week to talk about what we were looking at,” said Gatland. “I said we were going to have a mixed squad with some young and some experienced. He indicated that they were probably going to do the same thing.
“Then he proceeded to ask me what’s happening with the roof. I said it’s a bit ironic that you wanted it open during the Six Nations and now you want it closed! I think he wants it closed because it will be closed during the World Cup. There was a cynical side of me that felt like saying we’re going to leave it open.”
