Wales prop Corey Domachowski believes their “15 weeks of hell” training for the World Cup means they are ready to fire against Fiji on Sunday.
Warren Gatland’s side have been preparing since May, completing training camps in Switzerland and Turkey. They are now going through their final paces ahead of facing Fiji on Sunday in Bordeaux, where temperatures on Friday were due to hit 36 degrees.
Domachowski believes it will all pay off for Wales, who are taking on a Fiji side full of confidence after they beat England for the first time last month.
“We’ve trained hard for this,” Domachowski said. “We had 15 weeks of hell, to be honest. It has been absolutely savage. I genuinely think if we put what we’ve done on the training field onto the playing field, then we are going to be a tough team to beat.
“That’s something Gats and the other coaches have drilled into us. We are not going to worry about any opposition. We know we have got quality in the squad. There is a lot of competition in that squad, and whoever goes on the field will give everything they’ve got for that jersey.”
Domachowski is one of 10 Wales players set to make their World Cup debut on Sunday, with five of them in the starting XV.
Prop Domachowski is one of the five who will have to wait their turn after enjoying a remarkable rise. The 26-year-old only made his Wales debut last month, appearing against England in a warm-up game.
He impressed Gatland so much that he was named in the final squad for this World Cup, when months earlier the prop was unsure if he would even get a new deal with club side Cardiff.
“I take myself back to the middle of last season, and if someone had said that I’d be in this position, I’d have laughed in their face, to be honest,” Domachowski said.
“I think there were about six weeks left in the season before I secured a new deal.”
