On Friday evening, England’s players hopped on board a coach to Barcelona for dinner at a popular steak restaurant.
The logistics of organising a meal for 36 hungry rugby players is not easy.
Charlotte Gibbons, the team’s operations manager, made the reservation well in advance, asking the squad to pre-order main course and dessert over WhatsApp.
‘We always pre-order our food because there’s so many of us,’ said centre Fraser Dingwall. ‘They bring out a load of starters to share, then I picked a rare rib-eye steak and a brownie.’
Steve Borthwick put his players through two of their toughest ever training days and some of the forwards need 6,000 calories to fuel their output in the Spanish sun.
The players were allowed to enjoy a beer — although there is little chance of this England squad generating the sort of boozy headlines that followed the cricket team throughout the Ashes series.
England are busy preparing for the start of the Six Nations with a training camp in Girona
Steve Borthwick’s side will have big hopes for the tournament amid an 11-game winning streak
‘There’s not much alcohol through the week at all — it’s not like rugby was back in the day,’ added Dingwall. ‘There are no strict rules but the repercussions fall back on you because if you are out of shape then you’re the one who is going to miss out on selection. You would only drink the night after a game, really.’
Gone are the days of players sneaking out to nightclubs in the middle of a training block. Every element of training is monitored through GPS data. There is no hiding place on the pitch and walking during play is not looked upon kindly by Borthwick and his team of analysts.
The players have been training at maximum fatigue levels as they gear up for their Six Nations opener against Wales. Borthwick stood on the halfway line launching loose balls down to the opposite end of the pitch, forcing his players to sprint back as they would during a breakaway play in a Test match.
‘It was as tasty an England session as I’ve been part of,’ said lock Ollie Chessum, impressed by the work of the newcomers such as Billy Sela and Greg Fisilau. ‘Those lads just flew into it.’
Executives from Apple stood on the touchline as England were put through their paces. The tech giants recently struck up a partnership with the RFU. Their devices are fundamental to the team’s preparations.
Analysts crunched through numbers from the session, uploading the data to the Cloud, where club coaches in the UK can see their players’ output.
‘Compete and Connect’ is one of England’s slogans. Borthwick rotates playing combinations through the week to build partnerships and almost every player was involved. England have a healthy squad going into their opening fixture, although centre Ollie Lawrence remains doubtful.
‘The compete element is around training,’ said Dingwall. ‘Our mindset is to push each other as hard as we can for the benefit of the team. The attack drills are only as good as the defence and vice versa.
Fraser Dingwall provided an insight into the attitude and logistics around the training camp
Dingwall joked that he was relieved not to be sharing a room with Henry Pollock (above)
Newcomers such as Billy Sela (above) and Greg Fisilau are said to have impressed so far
‘The connection element is bringing together 10 clubs into one squad. You’ve got to invest in the off-field stuff and get to know the person beyond rugby. The bonds between players is one of the big things that makes you fight that little bit harder and care about the group.
‘There’s so much value in cohesion as a playing group. When you boil it down to hard moments, you need genuine care for those around you. You build that over a long period of time at your club. With this group, you’re seeing more and more consistency around the squad that comes into camp. One of Steve’s big things was building a squad that starts to connect more.’
Former England international Joel Tomkins was also invited into camp. The code-switcher is now the head coach at the Catalan Dragons and he made the short journey down from Perpignan to visit the team.
The team’s golf-resort hotel — Camiral — was recently selected as the venue to host the 2031 Ryder Cup, and the players have made the most of the facilities. Ben Earl and Luke Cowan-Dickie are two of the keenest golfers and they went head-to-head on Thursday, while some of their team-mates spent their day off sampling the coffee shops around Girona.
England’s football team stayed at the same resort last summer, when the likes of Jordan Pickford and Harry Kane whizzed between the same fairways on golf buggies.
There is no shortage of football fans in Borthwick’s squad. Freddie Steward cajoled his room-mate Tom Curry into watching his beloved Norwich City’s victory over Coventry. The full-back recently placed an outside bet on the Canaries to reach the Championship play-offs and he will pocket a four-figure sum if it comes off.
‘Who you share a room with here is quite random,’ said Dingwall. ‘I’m with Elliot Daly, who is a good roomie. You want someone who is tidy and a quiet sleeper. You need a blend of chatty, but not over the top. It’s quite nice that I’m not rooming with (Henry) Pollock so I can get away from him at times!
‘He’s common roomies with Guy Pepper, and I’m sure there are times Guy wishes he would shut up! You can’t control him, you can’t stop him, you just have to let it go. He’s himself with everyone, which is quite endearing.
‘When we get back to Pennyhill, our rooming set-up is a bit more consistent and it’s connected to how many caps you have. There are some up-down rooms which are essentially apartments, with a living room downstairs and a bedroom upstairs. There’s a limited number of those and they go to the players with the most caps. Here it’s standard side-by-side rooms. Jamie (George) has a room to himself because Maro (Itoje) hasn’t been here, so he was essentially captain.’
Itoje joined up with the squad on Wednesday night, flying in from Nigeria after his mother’s funeral. His leadership will be emotionally charged over the coming weeks, making England a dangerous prospect for whoever comes their way.
