Walters: 'You might think this is the most ridiculous thing to do'

England played what was effectively a Test match in training just days before last month’s Summer Nations Series clash with Ireland as part of a masterplan to perfect their fitness for the Rugby World Cup.

A feature of the four warm-up Tests was the superior conditioning of the opposition, in contrast to Steve Borthwick’s side who appeared to be short of gas while falling to defeats by Wales, Ireland and Fiji.

Former Ireland wing Simon Zebo noted how England appeared to lack energy when working as a pundit for the August 19 29-10 defeat in Dublin.

But they looked a very different side in their World Cup opener against Argentina last Saturday as they cruised to a 27-10 victory in Marseille despite playing all but three minutes with just 14 men because of Tom Curry’s red card.

Head of strength and conditioning Aled Walters has revealed that with the hard yards now done in honing their fitness, England are ready to thrive in France.

“In the Ireland week – and you might think this is the most ridiculous thing to do – when you look at the GPS data we more-or-less played a game on the Tuesday before we played Ireland on the Saturday,” Walters said.

“It was actually quite amusing, seeing the reaction. People are going to be worried, aren’t they? They were thinking, ‘There is a World Cup around the corner and they look terrible. They don’t look fit. They look terrible – they are lacking energy’. But we knew exactly what was coming and the players did as well.

“Do you get confidence from that? Yes. We lost but we went to one of the hardest places to go to. It serves as preparation for going into Argentina and then Japan on Sunday.

“To get someone fitter you almost have to dig them into a hole first to allow them to recover and then come out stronger. That’s a big thing.

“The guys that go to the Tour de France, that’s not the first time they have worked really hard. They have worked incredibly hard in the mountains. Were they unfit six weeks ago? No, they were just under-recovered.

“What happens when you are fully recovered and your tank is full and you are full of juice, that is when you see the fittest versions of your team and squad.

“What we have done is put them into such a hole in pre-season that they will only reap the rewards of that work. We saw the start of it on Saturday against Argentina. The fresher they get now, the stronger they will be.”