Pre-season pain

In her first blog for skysports.com Gail Davis experiences some pre-season training.

Clubs all building towards the new season

Given the amount of column inches that have been dedicated to rugby over the past few weeks it's perhaps surprising to note that the season is still over a week away. Whilst bloodgate and drugs scandals have dominated the headlines it couldn't be further from the minds of most of the Premiership players as they put the hard yards ahead of the new season. In the big pre-season shape up not many clubs opted for a staycation, obviously they weren't convinced by the promise of a bbq summer by the weathermen. Speak to any of the players though and they'll tell you sunshine or no sunshine pre-season still amounts to torture. Just how gruesome an experience, well an hour with the London Welsh coach Phil Greening and his fitness team gave me some idea. Not ready to brave it on my own I somehow managed to persuade my hockey team to join in.

The new beep test

The days of endless running around fields is thankfully over, but it's been replaced by something far worse - runways. It's a bleep test you can't cheat - great! It basically involves sprinting up and down a lot, sitting down and waiting for your lactic acid to build up (this recreates the heaviness of your legs towards the end of the game ) then more sprinting and if you're really lucky you get some wrestling thrown in as well. Yes I know what you're thinking since when did wrestling become an integral part of pre-season training, but in between laughing at us Greening insisted it was something to do with strength and core stability but I'm not convinced! It wasn't until the next morning that I realised exactly how hardcore the training was. I couldn't lift my arms above waist height, I couldn't cough or laugh for three days and tying my shoe laces was out of the question. Greening has had his squad back in training since the beginning of June, even though London Welsh were in administration and not being paid at the time. If my hour long experience is anything to go by the club should start the season flying and they'll need to given the five point deduction imposed after the club went into administration. The Premiership clubs have spent the summer scattered across Europe - Wasps headed to the cryo (ice) chambers in Poland. Ask any of the players and they'll tell you it's one of the most depressing places on earth but whatever fitness and conditioning they did obviously worked. There was one slight problem however as the new look team attempted to line up for their photo in their new kits with their new super sized muscles. Imagine a 6ft 4inch 18 stone back row forward trying to squeeze in to a skin tight shirt, the kind a catwalk model might struggle with, well it wasn't pretty in fact he failed miserably. Luckily two of the front row players put the big push on and the extra strength helped him get dressed. London Irish opted for Italy and a day trip to the ashes in Cardiff. Apart from experiencing a rarity in English cricket, Monty Panesar batting to save a test match, the squad also got to watch their Australian full back Peter Hewat eat humble pie, something no Australian sportsman enjoys.

Building houses

Pre-season was more hands on at Saracens. The team building did exactly that as the squad headed to South Africa to build houses in a township just outside Cape Town. Perhaps the new Director of Rugby Brendan Venter should have tried to get Sale's prop Andrew Sheridan on a summer transfer, his number one hobby is bricklaying, although even without him the Saracens squad completed four houses in one day and with it they hope they've laid some good foundations for the season. If that wasn't enough of an achievement, on their return Saracens managed to squeeze their all Italian front row into a recording studio with the men that bought you the 90's classic hit "I'm too sexy." Still wearing tight leather trousers and wife beaters, the pair otherwise known as Right Said Fred have recorded a song with the team that they hope will be the anthem of their season. The hangover from their end of season party is still being felt in Bath. The club has spent the summer devising a new zero tolerance drugs policy which every employee has signed up to. Head Coach Steve Meehan has had a busy summer recruiting after the departure of Justin Harrison, Michael Lipman, Alex Crockett and Andrew Higgins. Bath kick off their Premiership campaign against Gloucester on the opening weekend and there's nothing like a fiercely contested local derby to erase the memories of a controversial summer. Wasps, Sale, Gloucester and Saracens begin the new season with new directors of rugby. Harlequins have yet to name Dean Richards successor. Added to which we have seen the biggest exodus and new arrivals in the Premiership for years, which makes this season's winners and losers harder to predict. Clubs like Leicester and London Irish who contested last year's final have had minimal disruption over the summer and Northampton who ended the season with European silverware should find themselves in a strong position to hit the ground running when the race for the Premiership gets underway in just over a weeks time So three months on from Leicester lifting the Premiership trophy and after a summer when the sport has been dragged through the mud and the integrity of the game has been severely questioned finally the talking will be done on the pitch. It all kicks off on September the 4th with Sale v Leicester - thank goodness it's back!