Fotu Auela, Nigel Lam-Ah Wong and Siliva Siliva train in the altitude chamber © David Pocock Instagram

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The Brumbies have been working their rehabilitation group in an altitude room at the University of Canberra's research institute in a bid to gain an edge over their Super Rugby rivals. Locked in a simulation room, the players have been put through their paces in order to trial the facility for the rest of the squad.

The Brumbies aren't the first team in Australia to try out altitude chambers, but most NRL and AFL clubs previously have flown to the United States to trial similar facilities. The Brumbies, however, have the chance to use a Aus$16 million facility on their doorstep.

But what is different for the Brumbies is their use of heat and humidity, as well as high altitude simulation, to test the bodies of their injured stars, David Pocock, Fotu Auela and Ben Alexander. Training at an altitude equivalent of 2200 metres above sea level in 30C heat and 50% humidity, the players are left gasping for breath and reaching for buckets.

"Even the AIS don't combine heat with altitude [at their altitude house]," Brumbies rehabilitation coach Ben Serpell told Fairfax Media. "Even the AFL clubs don't do it like that. Collingwood have a facility and St Kilda have a smaller one, but this is something the Brumbies and anyone in Canberra can tap into."

Working alongside AIS senior physiologist David Pyne and the University of Canberra's research institute of sport and exercise, Serpell has devised a training plan for the players at altitude. With the Brumbies set to travel to South Africa for a two-game tour, the Brumbies hope to use the facility to train the whole squad to better acclimate the team before the high-altitude match against the Lions in Johannesburg.

"If it fits in the rugby program before South Africa, it could allow guys to adapt to the climate before they get there," Serpell said..

"It's essential taking what they would normally do in the gym and adding an extra 10% or so of effort [because they're doing it at altitude]. It depends how they cope with the heat and what height we're working at. It increases the training stress and physiological load takes the mechanical load off.

"The heart rate goes up but the effort going through the joints decreases. Having heat as well as altitude is the key, that's what makes the UC RISE facility unique.

"Once you get to a certain stage it can improve the rate to return to play without having to catch up with fitness gains."