Warren Gatland has put his Wales squad through a psychologically-challenging boot camp ahead of the 2023 Rugby World Cup.

According to reports in the UK, Wales spent a morning at The Green Mile army-style fitness camp, as the players were put through their paces both physically and psychologically in preparation for a tough campaign in France.

Wales have had their preparation for the tournament affected by the retirement of several veterans, including Alun Wyn Jones, Rhys Webb and Justin Tipuric, as well as a couple of injury blows.

However, Gatland revealed how the squad has put that behind them and cracked on with a military-style boot camp as they expect to be under the pump in the pool stages.

“Well, every time someone says that to me the headline seems to be ‘brutal this and that’ and I am going … they are tough but every training session is not brutal, every training session there might be an element of conditioning, fitness or power endurance – the boys are in the gym – and we are making sure we do our skill work,” Gatland was quoted by WalesOnline.

“We went to the Green Mile with the army and it was a brilliant day but it wasn’t brutal. It was more from a psychological challenge that we put them through.

“They did some power endurance stuff, they were carrying logs uphill and then having to go into a pool. We were talking about putting them in uncomfortable positions, where ‘how do you bring your heart rate down? How do you get your composure back?

“They did some stuff where we had them put on hoods, having water tipped over them when they weren’t expecting it. Babies crying, things going off, and it wasn’t a full day. We went there in the morning and finished about 1pm.

“The boys had a bit of lunch, we put some beers on – some had a beer and stayed there for about an hour and enjoyed each other’s company and had some laughs, had some photos with the guys, presented them with a jersey, it was a really good company that was a little bit different.”

Photo: Twitter: @WelshRugbyUnion