Trial by ice inspires fiery Boks

The 2003 Springbok squad were forced to crawl naked through the veld during their infamous team-building exercise dubbed Kamp Staaldraad.

But this year's team were glued to their seats on Thursday for a pep talk ahead of the Rugby World Cup by South Africa's world-famous endurance swimmer Lewis Pugh.

The "human polar bear" delivered a 45-minute motivational talk to the team at OR Tambo Airport's InterContinental hotel.

The media were barred from the event. The Boks were also given a pep talk by Proteas coach Gary Kirsten, who coached the Indian cricket team to World Cup victory in April.

Pugh, who dished out autographed copies of his book, Achieving the Impossible, to players after his talk, declined to comment.

But insiders said Pugh, who completed the first long-distance swim at the North Pole in 2007, had players eating out of his hands.

Brian Habana begged to have a photo taken with him while the deeply emotional coach, Pieter de Villiers, hugged and thanked him profusely.

Pugh delivers about 120 motivational talks a year, mostly in the US and UK, and offered to share his advice with the Springboks free of charge.

After a 30-minute speech he showed the players a seven-minute video of his freezing swim at the North Pole, which many had said was an impossible feat.