The England U20s squad went on a weeks training camp in Portugal. We stayed at a sporting complex called Browns which was perfect for what we needed. A great training pitch, with a good gym, good recovery facilities and nice accommodation. The week overall was pretty tough as it was one of the only weeks we have before the up and coming six nations so it was a great opportunity to cover a lot of our structures and terminology we are going to be using.
The first morning we started with the England endurance test which was a great way to start the week. I’m sure all the lads didn’t enjoy it but it certainly got us all encouraging each other and set the standards for the week. We had two rugby sessions each day as well as a gym session and a further skill session so it was pretty full on. One day we focused on attack, then defence as well as things like breakdown and defence to attack transition stuff. I had the great opportunity to kick every day because of the nice weather and pitch so in between everything else I managed to get a couple of hours in there.
After training all the lads recovered well using ice baths, swimming pools and pre-hab sessions so we had the best opportunity to train well the day after. We got fed well as well so all the lads were pretty happy to get some good food down them.
Training generally went pretty well throughout the week but obviously there were things that were quite rusty as a lot of the lads had never played or trained together before. We did plenty of things to try and bond the team together like going bowling and going out for meals which proved to be a success as there was a lot of lads laughing.
A really enjoyable week, which will no doubt be vital to our season.
George
