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England's 'inside man' could be a concern for the Springboks
Viewers of the 2019 Rugby World Cup winning documentary Chasing the Sun were given full access to the Springboks, their training and the team that makes up the team. One of those members, and standout characters from the outstanding show, was Aled Walters.
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Welshman Walters is a forward-thinking Strength & Conditioning coach that by all accounts transformed and played a large role in the Springboks’ fitness and preparations for the World Cup in Japan.
He’s now with the England side and once again, is making a big difference. A difference that may well pay dividends when the two sides meet in the Semi Final in Paris on Saturday.
Former Springbok and Saracens hooker Schalk Brits recently gave some insight into how Walters operates, and the calculated process that will have been quietly taking place behind the scenes.
“The one thing that he did, that people don’t know, leading up to the World Cup is, he said ‘Boys, we’re going to maximise every effort we can. We’re not going to taper into games, and maybe your performance won’t be as good on the weekends, but we’ll peak at the World Cup.’
“And that is what you’ve seen (with England).”
The Walters sessions are notoriously brutal, with South African players losing kilograms in single sessions in the heat of Kagoshima in 2019.
“At that exact point, I was thinking ‘why did I come back?’. I wish I had stayed retired,” Brits, then 38-years-old, told Telegraph Sport recently. “I think I was curled up in bed, fast asleep by 8pm that night.”
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The S&C role used to be reserved strictly for the gym and fitness training, but that has changed with an astute personality like Walters in the mix.
“Now it has become an integral part to the happiness of the side. It was how he managed the players, managing their happiness. In some ways you have to manage the relationship between the players and the coaches and most of the time the S&C coach is the guy in between. He becomes the channel, the pipeline to get to the coach.”
Walters has since joined Steve Borthwick at Leicester and is now the man in charge of England’s fitness at this World Cup in France.
After having gone through the pool matches unbeaten – albeit with a few lacklustre performances – Walters will have set them up to peak come the knockouts.
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He also has incredible insight into how the Springboks operate and a multitude of inside info on the psyche of Rassie Erasmus and Jacques Nienaber.
Handre Pollard says that it won’t be a problem.
“Aled is a top man, we all love him a lot and I’m sure he is going to do great with England moving forward. I’m sure he will have some insights but that we expect.
“There’s not too much he can give away, it’s been four years and we have developed as a squad a lot. It’ll be an interesting weekend.”
South Africa and England face off in Paris at 21:00 (CET) on Saturday, 21 October.