Warburton's heartache in the past

Sam Warburton insists he has exorcised the bitter memory of his World Cup heartache as he prepares to lead Wales into Six Nations battle.

The dynamic 23-year-old flank's World Cup campaign ended disastrously last year when he was sent off after 18 minutes of Wales' semifinal against France for a dangerous tackle on Vincent Clerc.

Warburton's dismissal was widely regarded as the decisive factor in a heart-breaking 9-8 defeat for Wales, who had emerged as one of the most entertaining teams of the tournament.

Although the rights and wrongs of the red card against Warburton continue to be debated, the Welsh skipper insists the crushing disappointment of what happened at Eden Park is already ancient history.

"It's not an issue to be honest," Warburton told AFP. "Without going too deep, I lost my grandad before Christmas and it made me realise there are more important things in life and much worse things can happen.

"Obviously at the time I was devastated by the red card but I've had plenty of support from my family and the team psychologist and the people back home have been great.

"In the changing room before a game it's never crossed my mind and that's an honest answer. It's done and dusted now and I've moved on."

Warburton admits however that it is hard not to reflect on what might have been. The challenge for the Six Nations, he says, will be for Wales to reproduce the freedom from fear which took them to the brink of the World Cup final.

"Maybe it was a missed opportunity. It was a great chance to get to the final, missing out by one point," Warburton acknowledged.

"But the beauty of what we did out there is that we played each game as another rugby game, without fear and we didn't go into our shells.

"That will be the message this time around. Don't think about it too much -- at the end of the day it's just another game of rugby. There's a bit more pressure on us this time around but we're ready to deal with that."

Wales have prepared for the Six Nations by returning to their pre-World Cup base camp at the Olympic Sports Centre in central Poland, a facility famed for its bone-chilling cryotherapy chamber, where athletes are exposed to freezing temperatures for short periods of time to accelerate recovery.

"The cryotherapy bit is easy," says Warburton. "You walk in for four minutes and then you're done. It's the training before and after the cryotherapy that is the hard part."

Wales coach Warren Gatland believes the spartan nature of the Polish training camp is the perfect preparation for the rigours of a Six Nations campaign.

"I think the advantages of going there are two-fold," he said. "One is being able to get away from any distractions.

"We've had great benefits in the last few times going to Poland using the cryotherapy in terms of recovery. We've felt its given us an opportunity in Poland to push ourselves pretty hard in training but also to recover a bit quicker than normal.

"It's good for the players. It's a bit like a university campus. These guys are normally staying in five-star hotels but it's pretty basic there.

"My room is a single bed in a fairly small confined room and the players are as well. We eat together in a huge cafeteria with all the other athletes from Poland who are using the centre.

"It's good to give everyone a reality check to see what other athletes do, and it gives us a different environment for seven days of hard training."

AFP