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Wales Online
Wales Online
Sport
Matthew Southcombe

Inside the Wales rugby team's intense meeting as players given stark warning

Wales boss Warren Gatland has delivered a stark message to his players as they continue preparations for the Rugby World Cup.

The 42-man training group will head to Fiesch, a sleepy village buried in the Swiss Alps, tomorrow for a grueling two-week altitude camp.

The bulk of the squad has already been in camp for three weeks, some have been in for longer, but more will be asked of them in the coming weeks and months.

In a team meeting before setting off for Switzerland tomorrow, Gatland left the players in no doubt as to where they stood and what was expected.

"How am I going to impress in the next couple of months?" Gatland tells his stars they should be asking themselves, in a video released by the WRU.

"How do I train? What's my attitude like? Am I doing my work-ons, extras? What am I like in the environment?

Wales boss Warren Gatland delivers a message to his team (WRU)

"Rob (Howley) has said about how tight this group has been and there is no doubt about that.

"What's your point of difference? We've spoken about point of difference.

"Where we are is not going to be good enough. We're going to have to get better."

When Wales return from their fortnight in Switzerland later this month, they'll face two games against England before heading for a heat camp in Turkey for one week.

After that, there is a game against Ireland On August 31, following which, Gatland will have to trim his squad down to the final World Cup group of 31 players.

You can see who we think those 31 will be as things stand, here.

Coaches will have to deliver the message to 11 men that they haven't made the grade, an unenviable task.

"We're 42 at the moment and we'll pick a World Cup squad of 31," explained Gatland.

"I promise you, the hardest thing for us as coaches is having to deliver the message to 11 guys that they will miss out on the World Cup squad.

"That's the hardest thing you have to do as a coach, when you're delivering that information.

"And obviously, for you guys, there's the disappointment of missing out."

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