London Welsh put administration issues firmly to one side last Saturday, as they gave supporters a close up insight into their pre-season preparations at their Westminster training ground.

Despite been placed into administration on June 23, it’s been business as usual at the Old Deer Park club, and consequently the Dragons’ scheduled Open Training Session commenced with head coach Danny Wilson giving supporters a glimpse behind the scenes.

Despite the current uncertainty surrounding the clubs future, Wilson emphasised that the players and staff remain focused on preparing for the start of the Championship and British & Irish Cup.

The Dragons warm up for the start of the new season with friendlies against London Irish (Aug 14), Saracens (Aug 23) and Esher (Aug 29), before kicking off their Championship campaign away to Bristol (Sep 5).

Wilson went onto discuss the clubs intention to play a fast, expansion brand of rugby, in keeping with the best traditions of London Welsh, and how a ‘no excuses’ professional rugby environment has been created as an integral part of the squads pre-season preparations.

Supporters were then given a taste of just what the players have been put through over recent weeks, as assistant coach Phil Greening and fitness adviser Chris Walton oversaw a 45 minute specific rugby conditioning session, designed to test the players’ skill levels under fatigue following power endurance and runway sessions.

A tight knit 31 man squad, with the emphasis on quality rather than quantity, has been assembled by Welsh with competition for every jersey the aim.

Following the session, supporters were able to put their questions to Danny, Phil and Chris, as well as get the chance to mingle with the players.

“The Open Training Session was a great opportunity to invite people down, especially supporters, and not only give them a really good insight into the way a professional rugby club prepares and trains during pre-season, but more importantly, how the current London Welsh staff and players are preparing,” said Wilson.

“What today showed is that it’s business as usual at London Welsh; we haven’t taken our foot off the gas in any way, we are still preparing in the same vain for our first league game away to Bristol, until we hear any differently.

“It’s a credit to the professional environment the staff have created, and London Welsh as a club, that the players are still extremely passionate about playing for the club. A huge amount of credit has to go to the players, they’ve been extremely professional in their attitude and I’m really looking forward to working with them for the rest of the season. “This experience has really pulled us together as a group of people; if we come out of the other end then it will have definitely galvanised us in to becoming a much tighter knit group going into the season.

“We are aware that there are a lot of positive messages coming from the administrator and that there are parties interested in becoming involved in London Welsh RFC. We are just working hard until we get a decision going forward, which we are confident we are going to get.”