SCRUM: Maybe we need to take a lesson from the South Africans

Naked Springboks tested at camp

South Africans are agonising over their defeat by New Zealand. South African rugby players were subjected to naked toughening-up exercises at a gruelling boot camp before the World Cup in Australia. Some South Africans doubt the wisdom of sending the Springboks to "Camp Steel Wire" in light of their 29-9 quarter-final defeat by New Zealand.

South Africa's Sunday Times newspaper reports that players had to strip and pump up rugby balls in a freezing lake. The three-day "bonding" also involved crawling naked across gravel.