Jon Welsh knew he was going to be okay when he saw Richie Vernon struggling with altitude at Scotland’s “boot camp” in France last month.
Typecast as a throwback sort of player who doesn’t get about the park as much as the national management team would like, Welsh was put into the “fitter” group “stronger” and “faster” were the other two when the Scots went to Fort Romeu in the Pyrenees for the 10-day camp.
And it was suitably brutal stuff, with Welsh getting a nosebleed caused by altitude, but when he saw that the super-fit Vernon was also struggling, he reckoned he’d be okay.
“France was really tough,” said the 28-year-old. “I’ve never trained at altitude before and I think it took me by surprise. I thought it would just be a psychological thing.
“There were instances we weren’t even training. We were just walking up the hill, in a bit of down time, and my nose would just start bleeding.
“That was not even training. We had done two fitness sets at Ravenscraig before leaving which were pretty tough and then were told had to do another three in France. It was one of the toughest training camps I’ve been in.
“I remember turning round to Richie, who’ll be one of the fittest guys in the team, and he was as knackered as I was, sucking in the big ones.
“I thought to myself it must just be me, being a bigger guy, a front rower, but when I asked ‘Richie, you all right?’ he replied, ‘Absolutely done’.
“And this was just with running about. So I think it was tough on everyone.”
There were a few oddities like sleeping in the open and listening to a French army hostage negotiator, but as a team bonding exercise Welsh thinks it has worked.
“There were a lot of dark times, we’ll call them,” he admitted. “Boys had to dig deep, but it was good to see that everyone was applying themselves.
“There wasn’t anyone that was backing out of anything, and no matter how unreasonable it sounded everyone was committing themselves.”
Welsh’s reputation is as technically sound scrummager who doesn’t do enough other duties, but he realises that with both Euan Murray and Geoff Cross out of the tight-head picture, a start against Ireland in the first Rugby World Cup warm-up match is a real opportunity for him.
“I’ve got a handful of caps and have been on the fringes for a while,” he admitted. “This is absolutely massive and I’ve heard terms like ‘warm-up matches’ and preparation, but it’s a full international Test match the way I look at it.”
“Euan and Geoff not being involved in the squad is obviously an opportunity for myself. But nothing changes. I train the exact same way as always.
“There’s quality all through the front row, in particular tighthead with WP (Nel) and Mike (Cusack) involved as well now.”
Having just missed on selection last time he recalls the phone call with the bad news from Andy Robinson himself Welsh won the first of his four caps so far at literally three minutes notice in Italy the following spring, but he wants many more.
“It’s been a long time, I’ve been involved in training squads since 2010, didn’t get capped until 2012,” he said.
“You know that at the end of it all this preparation, it’s going to be worth it, it’s going to be better.
“You get through things like France and you’ll feel better about yourself, and you’ll know that as the fitness coaches say, it’ll be in the bank. I can’t wait to get out there on Saturday now.”