One of the secrets of Gavin Hunt’s coaching triumphs has been a fulsome pre-season training regime that has laid a foundation of fitness for his teams to prosper in their search for success.

Four league titles and a sweep of all the various cups on offer cannot be argued with but after a horror defence of their first championship‚ in which Bidvest Wits failed to finish in the top eight‚ Hunt is changing plans.

Wits will no longer be going to Stellenbosch for their annual boot camp‚ a week of intense training that stretches the players not only physically but also puts them under mental strain and gives the coach valuable insights into their characters.

Next month‚ Wits are looking for a change of scenery and maybe a fresh mindset to put behind them the disappointment of the last 12 months.

Durban is now to be their destination for Hunt’s Spartan experience where he increases the intensity after the first two weeks of pre-season training.

“We just felt it was time for a change‚ to go to a different place this year‚” said the club’s chief executive officer Jose Ferreira on Wednesday.

Usually they stay in a hostel‚ where there are few amenities and the players are forced to spend more communal time together as Hunt seeks them to forge bonds with one another.

The more Spartan the surrounding‚ the better for character-building.

They rise before dawn for a run or go off to the gym‚ then have another training session in mid-morning‚ followed by a 3pm match against one of the local clubs.

Wits always ask either fellow Absa Premiership teams or sides from the National First Division to play against them and a daily match against tough opposition is taxing over a period of seven days.

By the end of the day the players are out on their feet but have to endure the process all over again‚ day-after-day for a week‚ testing not only their physical capacity but also‚ and perhaps more importantly‚ their mental toughness.