UWS hosted Scottish Rugby's U20 men's squad at the Lanarkshire campus recently, to support their pre-tournament preparations.

The team used the University's state-of-the-art environmental chamber to simulate the temperatures they'll be experiencing at the tournament in Northern Italy.

With temperatures currently over 30 degrees at the team’s base in Mirano - and expected to stay that way throughout the championship - the squad were put through their paces on watt bikes in the heated chamber in order to prepare them mentally and physically for playing in the soaring Italian sun.

U20 Sports Science Lead Ella Kay said: “This is our second time using the environmental chamber at UWS, we previously used it two years ago to simulate altitude but this time around we have used it to simulate the temperatures we will be experiencing in northern Italy. The players completed multiple challenging bike sessions in the chambers, set at around 35-degree heat, which allowed us to seek an additional stimulus on top of our rugby training."

The team really enjoyed the sessions, doing something different to usual, whilst pushing themselves physically and mentally. Thank you to Jack, Molly and the rest of the team at UWS for all their help with our preparation for the upcoming championship.

U20 Sports Science Lead Ella Kay