LONDON, July 8 (Xinhua) -- England's rugby squad have survived a grueling military survival experience ahead of this year's World Cup to be held in Japan.

The elite England players meanwhile, headed to the British military's Defense Survive Evade Resist Extract Training Organisation in Cornwall, where the players' resilience and teamwork were tested at a secret training camp on the Royal Air Force base.

The England rugby players travelled to the small piece of woodland, none of them knowing where they were going or why.

They were met there by experienced survival instructors, used to dealing with the elite of the British armed forces, ready to put the elite athletes through a different kind of training exercise.

Without any way of contacting the outside world, the players had to focus on surviving, such as building a shelter, starting a fire to cook with, making a bed from whatever nature provided, and all with only their teammates there to support them.

"It was the ultimate bonding experience. It was also a test, as every day is in the World Cup build up," said an RAF spokesperson.

Team coach Eddie Jones and his staff watched carefully to see how the players reacted and worked together, who had the grit to dig deep and carry on under hardship, who naturally took the lead when faced with a new challenge.

England player George Ford said: "It's been challenging, and stuff like this is great for us to take into what we've got coming up in the next few weeks."