Someone asked Gareth Bale a few days ago whether playing for Wales ever felt like work. The look on his face told you that there really had been no need to pose the question.
‘Certain days are obviously more difficult than others,’ he grinned. ‘But playing for Wales never gets tiresome.’
Harry Redknapp once said that Bale would rather head back over the River Severn than out to the sun when given time off at Tottenham. You only had to watch a few of the open training sessions here this week to appreciate that for him we are entering a be-all and end-all.