Richard Hill has vowed to put his Worcester Warriors through a physically and mentally demanding training camp this week in Switzerland.
The Sixways squad have jetted off for warm weather training this week at the state-of-the-art Centre Sportif de Colovray Nyon as the countdown to the new Aviva Premiership campaign gathers pace.
The Warriors will be put through their paces at the home of FC Stade Nyonnais – opposite the UEFA headquarters – that boasts six pitches and athletics stadium over a 100,000 square metre complex, that previously hosted Turkey during the Euro 2008 Championships.
The venue sits on Lake Geneva and has the Alps as a stunning backdrop. However, Hill insists the squad can forget enjoying any tourist traps this week and can instead look forward to potential 12-hour days and plenty of hard graft.
“It will be a demanding week of rugby to ensure we are ready for the start of the season. The team will be working from 8am until 8pm on some days and it is certainly no holiday,” said Hill.
“The venue is fantastic and ideal for what we need. Whenever you train in a different environment you see the players train better. Even a trip to Malvern College for a day can make a difference. Straight away the enthusiasm levels are up.
“The squad has been very good so far and training has been very varied at the club. But there is nothing better than being able to take a group of players away. We saw the benefit before out play-offs last season when we visited the Ark Royal.
“An environment like this, just outside Geneva where the sun will be out and the facilities are spot on, will benefit us.
“The training pitch is a stone’s throw from the lake with the mountains in the background. It is a beautiful location where they will be a lot more enthused and you will get a lot more work done.
“There are also no distractions for them. We can do more practical and theory, we will get a huge amount of work done in just one week. I feel we will get more done in one week away than you can in a month back home.”
Hill revealed that as well as rugby drills the team would undertake a series of team building exercises.
And the rooming arrangements had already been shaken-up to ensure that the squad bond before the big kick-off.
“The players will definitely get to know each other,” he said. “They will be rooming with people they haven’t before or even knew before. We have mixed it depending on position so, for example with the half backs, Shaun Perry is in with Joe Carlisle.
“We will also do plenty of team building events. That is massive for this year, we need to be one unit.
“We will be looking at body hardness and match-fitness, there will be a lot of full on contact work,” he concluded.
“We are ahead of the game with the play book and we will really hone the defence with Phil Larder during the training camp.”