The Swiss Alps might be the ideal destination for some holidaymakers but there will be very little chance for Wales' leading players to enjoy the stunning surroundings in the next two weeks.

As Wales look to scale the heights of the rugby world, preparations continue high in the picturesque mountains of Switzerland as the 42-man squad flies out on Wednesday for a gruelling training camp.

With the World Cup in Japan looming in September, there will be little time to enjoy the scenery of Fiesch as Wales return to the training base they used before the 2015 global tournament.

'Live high train low' will be the mantra once more. The players will be staying 2,250 metres above sea level but dropping down to training at an altitude of 1,000 metres.

The idea is the players become more accustomed to recovering when there is less oxygen available, making their bodies more efficient at using oxygen when it is available.

As well as altitude issues, extreme heat was something to contend with in 2015.

Four years ago, there were often three energy sapping sessions a day at times. Exercises included tossing a gigantic truck tyre around - as though emptying the bins - and tug-of-war contests.

This time, players will also be tackling extreme weights sessions in a gym that has been transported from their Wales training base in the Vale of Glamorgan hotel resort.

They will go through a series of exercises that will leave them exhausted before they drag themselves to the cable car that climbs back to their living quarters 1,000m higher than the training ground.

Beautiful but brutal

There will be repeat offenders such as Wales wing George North, who was in Switzerland four years ago and is preparing for his third World Cup.

The Ospreys wing summed up the contrast between the beauty of the surroundings and the pain suffered by the players.

"The last time we were there it was not much fun," said North.

"It is a stunning place to train in but a horrible thing to do. It is visually a beautiful place but it won't be beautiful for us.

"The altitude also adds a bit of a fun to it! But it is an intense two-week training camp which is not designed to be a laugh.

"If you look at the preparation camps in 2011 and 2015, they were brutal but they got us into a position where the boys felt as if they were in the best shape in the world.

"Switzerland is going to be another level up again. The guys are going to be excited but nervous and apprehensive and ready for that challenge again."

No pain no gain

British and Irish Lions hooker Ken Owens is another who will be returning to the house of pain.

"The prize is always worth the sacrifices," he said.

"It is not pleasant but you know why you are doing it and what the purpose is.

"We know the graft that needs to go in and how difficult it's going to be, but you have to put the hard work in to get the rewards.

"If you have been through it before, you can see the results it gives you and the places you can get to in those close matches.

"The first thing you can turn to is your fitness and you back yourself to be able to go the distance and dig in when it's tough.

"It serves a massive purpose and worked over the last two World Cup cycles so you reap the benefits."

Missing out

Some players will go through all the pain and miss out on World Cup selection.

This is just the latest part of the preparation as Wales face World Cup home and away warm-up games against England and Ireland and another fitness camp in Turkey.

The provisional squad will be whittled down to 31 at the beginning of September.

Ospreys back James Hook was one of the players to miss out on the initial World Cup squad four years ago, although he was called up as injury cover during the tournament.

"They are brutal," said Hook.

"You are living near the top of a mountain. There is not a great deal to do there when you are not training, you are there for two weeks and you don't have many days off.

"It is like Groundhog Day. In the morning you have skills and conditioning and power and endurance, and in the afternoon you will have the weights and more skills.

"The boys will have been dreading this for the last six weeks but the day has come to travel out there and they will be wanting to get on with it.

"It is a tough old slog with boys being away from their families but there is a big carrot at the end of it."

Fresh faces

One player who has not endured the pain of this environment before is uncapped Cardiff Blues wing Owen Lane.

"Everybody has got a few stories about how brutal it was but I expected that from videos I have seen," said Lane.

"Four years ago I was following it on social media and I could tell how tough it looked.

"Now I have experienced a few weeks with the squad, I know how tough it is and am expecting it to step up in Switzerland.

"I would not say I was looking forward to it. But on the other hand I sort of am because I want to get involved and see how I react."

For the latest Welsh rugby news follow @BBCScrumV on Twitter.

Ruan Pienaar will take on his former Ulster team-mates next season after joining Pro14 side the Cheetahs.

The 35-year-old has agreed a two-year deal with the Bloemfontein-based club.

The South Africa scrum-half joins the Cheetahs after securing a release from his Montpellier contract following the death of his sister in a car accident.

Pienaar, who was also linked with a return to Belfast, is now in line to play home and away matches against Ulster in Conference A.

The 88-times capped Springbok was the Pro12 player of the year for the 2010/11 season and was twice included in the team of the year during a successful seven-year spell at Ulster where he made 141 appearances.

Pienaar is the Cheetahs' first signing of the summer and will replace fellow scrum-half Shaun Venter, who has joined the Ospreys for next season.

The Cheetahs finished sixth in Conference A last season with eight wins and a draw from 21 regular-season matches.

South Africa World Cup winner James Small has died aged 50.

The former Springbok winger was taken to hospital on Tuesday after suffering a suspected heart attack.

Small played 47 Tests for South Africa, including the 1995 World Cup final win over New Zealand.

SA Rugby president Mark Alexander said he will have a "special place" in their "hearts and mind", adding: "James died too young, we're devastated to hear of his passing."

Small was influential in keeping the rampant Jonah Lomu, who had scored four tries in the All Blacks' semi-final win against England, at bay when the Springboks won their first World Cup in Johannesburg in 1995, a year after the end of Apartheid.

Known for his aggressive style of play, Small was the first South African to be sent off in a Test after being shown a red card against Australia in 1993.

He had numerous run-ins with opposition players, and sometimes his own team-mates, earning a reputation for his feisty personality that lived on after his career.

"James always played with the type of passion and courage that encapsulate what Springbok rugby stands for," added Alexander.

"Our thoughts and condolences are with his family and friends during this very sad time."

Small is the third member of the World Cup squad to pass away, after flanker Ruben Kruger and scrum-half Joost van der Westhuizen.

MECHANICSBURG, Pa. – After losing the race to rain on July 5, Williams Grove Speedway officials have announced the 31st annual Mitch Smith Memorial will be made up on July 19.

The Mitch Smith Memorial will be part of Thrivent Financial World of Outlaws Tune Up Night for the Lawrence Chevrolet 410 sprint cars.

Using the usual Outlaws format to set the starting field, the 30-lap main event will pay $8,080.80 to win, in honor of both the oval’s 80th anniversary racing season and the late Mitch Smith.

As another way of honoring Smith, there will be no increase in the scheduled admission for the special show, which will also be part of the Diamond Series for the sprint cars.

The rescheduling of the Mitch Smith Memorial will allow the prestigious race to continue its longevity at the oval, first run in 1989 and won by Stevie Smith.

Richard D. “Mitch” Smith was the original “Mr. Excitement” of Pennsylvania sprint car lore.

At Williams Grove Speedway, he ended his four-decade long career in 1978 with 27 sprint car wins and nine supermodified victories. Overall on his career, he had 179 triumphs.

Smith retired from the sport in 1978 and in 1988, at the age of 58, was felled by a massive heart attack.

Adult general admission for the Mitch Smith Memorial is set at $17, with youth ages 13-20 admitted for just $10. Kids ages 12 and under are admitted for free at Williams Grove.

The HJ Towing & Recovery 358 sprints will also be on the racing program.

The Champion Racing Oil Summer Nationals, featuring the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series, will return to the track on July 26-27.

CONCORD, N.C. — With two more victories in the past week, Brad Sweet continues to lead the National 410 Sprint Car Rankings.

Sweet, who won at South Dakota’s Brown County Speedway and Wisconsin’s Cedar Lake Speedway, has 10 victories this season, including nine with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series.

Sweet’s average finish is 5.189 in 37 starts.

Donny Schatz, Danny Dietrich, David Gravel and Daryn Pittman wrap up the top five in the national rankings.

Lance Dewease currently owns a 5.111 average finish and is one start shy of the 20 starts need to qualify for the rankings.

Dietrich leads the Eastern region on the strength of 10 victories, while other regional leaders are Buddy Kofoid (Great Lakes), Billy Balog (Great Plains), Dominic Scelzi (West), Jacob Patton (Mid America) and Jack Sodeman Jr. (Ohio-PA).

The season has been hampered by rain and drivers in most regions have yet to run enough races to qualify for the national rankings.

Eighty-five drivers have combined to win 179 features run through July 7.

Dietrich and Sweet each have 10 victories.

To view the complete national and regional rankings, click below.

SLINGER, Wis. – Grant Griesbach was, in a sense, already a grizzled veteran of racing when he pulled into Slinger Super Speedway at nine years old to drive a Slinger Bee – the track’s 4-cylinder division.

“Yeah, who was the dumb dad who allowed that?” joked his dad, Jeremy Griesbach.

At 10 years old, Grant won a feature in the Slinger Bees division, becoming the youngest feature winner in track history.

At 12 years old, he moved into the track’s limited late model division, which is the second tier division to the track’s primary division – super late models.

Now a full-grown 17-year-old going into his senior year at nearby Pewaukee High School, Grant is gaining the respect of his competitors and showcasing to fans he is worthy of being in the super late model division.

He’s not only in the division, he’s also become a contender.

“He’s doing a good job; there’s no doubt,” said three-time track champion Brad “JJ” Mueller.

At Tuesday night’s 40th SUPERSEAL Slinger Nationals presented by Miller Lite, Griesbach’s result won’t show the competitiveness he displayed. By a little luck, Griesbach got the pole position.

In qualifying he was 14th quickest. The top 12 automatically qualified for the 200-lap main event. But, because two cars failed post-qualifying inspection, he and Ryan Farrell got to start the Slinger Nationals on the front row.

Grant said the break moved him from what would’ve been a start outside the top 12. And he didn’t flinch at the opportunity to flex his proverbial muscles, running with some of the nation’s best race car drivers such as Ty Majeski, Kenseth, Daniel Hemrich and others.

At one point Tuesday night, he was surrounded by those three drivers.

“I think he can run up there,” Jeremy said. “I really do.

“What I think he needs to learn is more on the car side, the set ups and be smart enough to do a lot of that.”

Grant is working hard to do that, Jeremy said.

One of Grant’s mentors is six-time super late model champion Conrad Morgan, who sets up his pit two spots down. Jeremy said Grant and Conrad have been working together, which Grant said has been beneficial. But it has, in a possible sign of Grant’s growth, become a relationship where they lean on each other.

“But he’s making a lot of his own calls and his own decisions,” Jeremy said. “Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. When it works, he can run up there with those guys.”

The growth and development is noticeable. Grant led the first four laps of the feature – won by Matt Kenseth – and went on to finish seventh. However, that was his worst spot on the track. He was in the top five virtually all race long.

“He’s learning stuff on his own,” Jeremy said. “I think as he grows out of the teenage stuff and gets a little bit more attention to detail, he’ll be even better.

“He’s working at it; he’s busting his butt.”

To continue reading, advance to the next page.

SPARTA, Ky. – Paul Menard and his No. 21 Ford Mustang will honor one of America’s racing heroes on Saturday during the Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway.

Menard’s Quaker State-sponsored Mustang will carry a paint scheme reminiscent of the Quaker State colors that appeared on the No. 11 World of Outlaws sprint car driven by Steve Kinser in 2005, the year he won his 20th series championship.

The paint scheme was chosen in a fan poll that included Quaker State colors carried in NASCAR by Ricky Rudd in 1988, when his No. 26 Buick delivered Quaker State its first NASCAR win, at Watkins Glen.

Fans also had the option of voting for a design carried by Eddie Cheever and his No. 27 Lola in 1996, when he ran the fastest Indy 500 lap ever with a blistering speed of 230.103 miles per hour on the 78th lap of that race.

Menard said carrying Kinser’s familiar green Quaker State paint scheme is an honor.

“When I was a kid, Steve Kinser was at the top of his game,” Menard said of the legendary driver who won 690 Outlaw A-Mains in his career. “I definitely have a lot of respect for what he’s done.”

Menard also has a lot of respect for the Kentucky track, which he says can be a challenge – especially turn three.

“Turn three at Kentucky is the trickiest turn of any track we go to,” he said. “Turns one and two are pretty straightforward for a mile-and-a-half track, then (turn) three is flatter on entry.

“You’re loose on entry, then you pick up the banking as you go into turn four.”

Menard said that while Kentucky is flatter than most mile-and-a-half tracks, it makes up for it by being wider than most.

“It’s definitely a unique track,” he said.

CONCORD, N.C. — Once in a while, you find a gem where it is least expected.

We found such a jewel on Twitter in the form of the photo that accompanies this column.

Snapped during the NTT IndyCar Series weekend at Texas Motor Speedway, the image was posted by A.J. Foyt Racing with simple dialogue — Living Legends.

“Those are my guys,” I said upon seeing the photo of Johnny Rutherford, Rick Mears, A.J. Foyt and Mario Andretti.

A simple photo generated a wide range of emotions. First, there was the joy of simply seeing them all together. Then, we realized how fortunate the motorsports world, and Indy car racing in particular, is that they are all still here.

Not only did they make it through racing’s most dangerous era, they’ve survived to live long and fulfilling lives.

But as Chris Economaki would have said, “They’re not spring chickens anymore.”

Foyt is 84. Rutherford (81) and Andretti (79) are close behind. At 67, Mears is the kid of this bunch.

When I first became interested in racing, they were the stars of the sport. I cheered for some of them louder than others.

When writing skills paved the way for me to work in motorsports, I was fortunate to meet all of them at one point or another. Through the years, the cheers were replaced by admiration for “my guys.”

But without a doubt, it was their contributions on the race track that first captured my attention.

One of the very first races I attended was a USAC championship dirt car event at the Indiana State Fairgrounds, which was won by Foyt. And, as the Kerchner family attended the Indianapolis 500 and Indy car races at Michigan Int’l Speedway for most of my youth, Foyt was the family favorite.

It seems we gravitated to the four-time Indy 500 winner as much for his passionate personality as his success on the track.

Rutherford won the first Indianapolis 500 I attended in 1980 aboard Jim Hall’s beautiful “Yellow Submarine.” It was Rutherford’s third Indy win and our favorite memory from the race came after the checkered flag when Rutherford picked up Tim Richmond, whose ride was disabled on the final lap, and “chauffeured” him back to the pit lane.

Rutherford’s “Lone Star J.R.” nickname and laidback personality were as appealing as the class he showed off the track.

Mears knew how to win and he did it in such an unassuming way that few were ever upset when the longtime Team Penske driver visited victory lane. With a combination of speed, skill and patience, Mears won four Indianapolis 500s. I was there for three of them.

The irony of Foyt and Andretti sitting together in this photograph was not lost. Bitter rivals during their racing days, their competitive fire often spilled over to the fans. If you were an A.J. guy, you weren’t a Mario man; and vice versa.

Thus, growing up I rarely cheered for Andretti. But age brought appreciation for what he accomplished and numerous meetings, including a day he spent at the SPEED SPORT office in New Jersey during the early 1990s, won me over. Through the years, the 1969 Indy winner and 1978 Formula One world champion has become racing’s greatest spokesperson.

Together the racing accomplishments of these four men are incredible, unfathomable in many ways. They won 12 Indianapolis 500s, two Daytona 500s, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, a world driving title and 15 Indy car championships.

But despite all of the success racing around the globe, none of the four lost the down-to-earth nature with which they approach life. While they often seemed larger to life to fans — me included — they always remained simply Johnny, A.J., Rick and Mario.

These are “my guys!”

Three-time Stanley Cup winner Matt Cullen announced Wednesday that he is retiring after 21 seasons in the league.

The 42-year-old won his first Cup with Carolina in 2006 and then captured back-to-back titles with Pittsburgh in 2016 and '17.

In an essay on NHL.com, Cullen wrote that his career almost came to a close before his last two titles.

Matt Cullen: his story, his words.https://t.co/rsL9o4yk1j pic.twitter.com/985mgUtqpk

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) July 10, 2019

"The phone didn't ring on July 1, 2015, the annual start to NHL free agency," he said. "I had just finished two great years in Nashville, but my future was still unclear. I still wanted to play even at 38 years old, but I was pretty sure that it was the end."

Then he got a call from Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford.

"I just pinch myself and think about how close it was to not happening," Cullen said. "Those were probably the best years of my whole career and life with the Penguins. Going through all that with the boys and Bridget and that group of players, the whole organization, everything was perfect. It was beyond anything I could have ever imagined."

Cullen said that he has been "in a constant state of almost-retirement for the last few years" and that he knew this past season would be his last.

He spent three of his past four seasons in Pittsburgh, with the 2017-18 season back home in Minnesota.

"It was an emotional time, but I knew it was coming. It just felt right and I was really at peace with everything when it was over.

"I felt like it was only right to retire in Pittsburgh with everything that the organization had given me and done for me," he said. "I'm so happy I came back and finished my last year in Pittsburgh. I wouldn't trade that last year for anything."

A second-round pick of Anaheim in 1996, Cullen played for the Ducks, Hurricanes, Panthers, Wild, Penguins, Panthers, Predators, Rangers and Senators.

He finishes with 266 goals and 465 assists.