Wales’s Caretaker Coach, who is in charge for the one-off match against the Springboks in the inaugural Prince William Cup game, will set-up camp in Pembrokeshire and train his players at Tenby rugby club as he moves to breathe lungfuls of refreshing air from the world-renowned Welsh coastal resort into the national team’s psyche.
Davies has already said he will pick the 22 players charged with the task of beating the current best team in the world based on form, and that could mean a new look squad from the one that exited the World Cup after defeat to Fiji.
Now he says those players selected will find a new and challenging regime in place when they turn up for international duty.
“We are freshening things up and changing the environment we will be training and working in by heading West to Saundersfoot, Tenby Rugby Club and centre Carmarthen Athletic indoor training centre,” said Davies.
“We will be challenging the players at every turn, we want them to show us how much they want to play for their country and to react to the coaches and challenge us in response. We were always going to have to freshen things up a bit for this match and removing the familiarity of our base in Cardiff from the equation is a good starting point.
“It’s about finding a different environment for this team to grow and grow quickly. We have one week to prepare them for a very important game for Wales. In that week we will change how we do things. We want to take the players away from an area they are comfortable in and familiar with.
“It will be a fresh approach. Maybe there is a chance that we could get close to a comfort zone if we continue to prepare in the same way, so this will guard against that.
“As coaches we are confident in our own abilities and in rising to the challenge. There is a short space of time available to us now to get a group of players ready to take on the World Champions.
“We (the coaches) are in a unique position because in many ways we have nothing to lose. We have a blank sheet of paper in front of us. We just need to assess form now and ensure that the team we come up with has the best chance of putting a performance together.
“The passion will be there, it should be intrinsic in anyone who puts on a Welsh shirt, its not something you need to try and establish, just awaken. And that’s also part of why we’ll be training in Tenby. There is a chance we can all become a little stale and this is about moving forwards.
“We are in a different place a new environment and the players will have to buy into it. They are going to have to go out there and put their bodies on the line against South Africa. They will realise it will hurt mentally and physically, but they’ll have to want that if they are going to be successful.
“We want a team on the park that all of Wales can be proud of and I’ve spoken to a lot of players already and they want to do it.”
