London Welsh conditioning coach Lee Eldridge wants the club’s stalwarts to guide the youngsters through the dreaded first four weeks of pre-season training.

Ahead of the new Aviva Premiership season kick-off on September 7, and before even picking up the egg, the exiles have been put through a strenuous regime of fitness and conditioning at Old Deer Park.

Eldridge said: “From a mental point of view pre-season is tough, but we’ve got guys who have done lots of them, guys like Tom May and Tim Molenaar.

“They can help the younger guys.”

He added: “The main emphasis from our side is strength and conditioning, and then as we move forward the rugby coaches want more pieces of the pie.

“They want more skills work so we have to back off so that the total volume of work doesn’t push the players over the edge and they get injured from training.

“That’s the worst thing that could happen from a strength and conditioning coach’s perspective.”