BUNDEE AKI GOT an advance taster of what’s to come for Ireland against Russia tomorrow under the closed roof at Kobe Misaki Stadium.
The powerful centre was in the stadium on Monday night as Samoa and Scotland played, watching some old friends but also getting a sense of how tough it’s going to be for Ireland against the Russians.
The Scots and Samoans – like England and Tonga before them – made repeated handling errors in the sauna-like conditions, while they also struggled to keep their footing at times.
“I was here just to have a look and it’s sweaty conditions, slippery ball,” said Aki today in Kobe. “As a collective, we know what the challenge in front of us is.”
The Kobe Misaki Stadium is the venue for four pool games in this World Cup and with World Rugby policy dictating that all roofs must be closed, there has been no option for teams to ask to open it up.
The result is a truly sweltering, greenhouse-like atmosphere inside the stadium, with supporters sweating heavily in the stands and the players struggling on the pitch.
“I had a couple of brothers who went to the England-Tonga game and they said that they were saturated just sitting watching it,” said Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt.
While Ireland did a warm-weather training camp in Portugal before jetting out to Japan, the humidity there was nothing like what Kobe will throw at them.
Back home in Ireland, Schmidt’s players wore bin bigs under their training jerseys in a bid to get a sense of how sweaty they will get.
“‘We trained with the bin bags under our jerseys just to get that uncomfortable feeling,” said prop John Ryan.
“To put it one way, it’s about being comfortable with being uncomfortable, that kind of way. I imagine we won’t need the bin bags on Thursday!”
Defence coach Andy Farrell underlined that Ireland’s mentality is the key thing ahead of the game. With mistakes bound to happen, he wants to see the Irish players reacting the right way.
“Because of the humidity in the stadium the ground sweats as well,” said Farrell. “So, the conditions are not what we’re used to but we’ve played in the rain quite a bit as well.
“It’s something we have to cope with, something we have to adapt to. We know the stats from the last two games that have been here, 30 handling errors in one and 35 in the other. It’s being able to adapt to that.
“How do we adapt? We make sure there’s a no-excuse mentality. There are going to be errors, we need to make sure that our defence shapes up pretty quickly to anything that is turned over.”
Technically and tactically, Ireland will have to consider their approach too.
“It seems that the conditions aren’t too bad at the start but as the game goes on it will be difficult,” said flanker Rhys Ruddock.
“There are lots of different ways you can adapt in terms of how long you hold onto the ball and whether it’s better to turn it around and play a territory game.
“It’s about making sure we look after the ball with shorter passes and not leaving the ball in the air too long so that they can force errors on you. But we’ve got to go out with a mindset to play, see how it is and adapt on the run. We’ll cross that barrier when we get there if conditions deteriorate during the game.”
Schmidt’s use of his replacements will be important too, given that fatigue levels are likely to rise earlier in the muggy heat.
“We’re going to have to make sure we manage our bench really well so that we can share the load effectively because I do think it’s going to be tiring but we can’t be too distracted by that,” said Schmidt.
“We have to just have our plan in place. There was a 20-minute water break just because dehydration levels become excessive and the humidity is that high and people are virtually swimming in sweat.
“So the good thing is if you play a quarter, then you can actually grab a minute just to rehydrate, galvanise yourselves and go for another 20.
“Then we get into an air-conditioned changing room, try to get temperatures down and probably dry jerseys on, lots of towels, and put a dry team back out for at least 30 or 40 seconds before they sweat up again, and do their best to stay in the game.”
They knew the venue 2 years ago. Why didnt they plan this better? Why not train in Hong Kong instead of Portugal,where the humidity is higher. There now seems to be an excuse before every game Short turn around, conditions, dodgy ref,players ripping it up in training but just not fit enough this week. Ireland need to put 50 plus on the Russians.
@Paul Kennedy: going to go out on a limb and guess that they didn’t train in Hong Kong because it’s on the other side of the world whereas Portugal is only a short haul flight away
@Paul Kennedy:
All together right Paul :: our 31 plus all the Irish supporters :: you do know none of the Irish Team read these posts :: so we will have to find some way of getting your informative post out to them ::if anyone has an idea let Paul know :: It is a bit of a waste that we mear posters have Pauls information and not IRELAND :: keep up the good work in cheering the team on (with your tough love )
Nice to know that in this modern era of scientific advancement, the humble black bin bag still comes to the rescue.
Budget must be tight
@Mark Smith: if it’s not broke don’t fix it
@Mark Smith: Tony Adams was on to something, and to think he thought of it with a hungover head
Can’t understand why the decision to close all the roofs was made months ago, madness
@Aidan Prior: absolutely , rationale should be given by WC authority as well as explaining why the decision can’t be reversed subject to conditions – it’s bizarre
@Paul Burke: utterly bizarre to leave roof closed … ruining games and players deserve better. World rugby is a joke
@BMJF: you are all wrong. Roof is closed to give every match the same conditions. Any lightening, etc would have cancelled a game and been unfair in that pool. Right decision, just a very humid weather period
Joke of a stadium for a World Cup. Expecting teams to play at their best in those conditions is crazy. Both the previous games were full of unforced errors. We’re supposed to see teams perform at the best in a World Cup. Forcing teams to play in those conditions when the roof could be opened makes no sense
@Paul Harvey: I get the logic of removing any dispute by defaulting to having the roof closed. However, if both teams reach a consensus, then it should be opened. Also, if consensus isn’t reached, WR should make the decision based on conditions, not a pre-selected choice.
We saw from NZ today that the there’s a window early on where you can run the ball before it all gets to damp and slippy!! We need to go at them from the off and see can we score a couple of early tries
….well then Joe’s famed passion for accuracy – some would say at the expense of invention – should pay rich dividends…No?
On the one hand we have the most meticulous coach in World Rugby.Now we get every excuse under the Sun(literally) Humidity,referees,closed roof,Algarve training,6 Nations-we look to peak in WC!!!!
3 out of 4 offsides were not offside.
Ref was good against Scotland where we won but bad against Japan where we lost.
I am a big fan of Joe and what he has done for Irish Rugby but announcing you are going 1 year out and what has ensued,is really not good.
I worry for the Farrell era.He has never managed a team before.
@Finnelly: Early announcement is key to proper succession planning. On the excuse making, I feel that this is tactical from him. Perhaps, it is his way of psychologically shielding the players knowing that there is still a long tournament to be played? Or perhaps it gives the illusion to potential knockout stage opponents that Ireland are underprepared and off form, when they may be peaking come QF? Who knows, but he’s broken every other barrier of Irish rugby down, so no reason to lose faith in him now.
Why can’t they wear special gloves
@Noel Foley: It’s too hot, not too cold.
Not a single positive comment here. The amount of negativity and whinging is nauseating.