For the past week a heat wave has hit Japan. 35 degrees and nearly 50% humidity are announced this Saturday at Toyota for the first test against the Brave Blossoms.
The manager of the Blues spoke at a press conference on the weather conditions in which the Blues will evolve against Japan on Saturday. Conditions which the French are absolutely not used to evolving and which could affect their physical condition.
Do you know if there will be any refreshment breaks on Saturday?
Raphael Ibanez : «A meeting was held earlier this afternoon with the refereeing body and it was agreed that we would have three water breaks per half, around the 10th, 20th and 30th. Fairly short breaks, one minute, two minutes, which should allow players to regain some freshness. The protocol is extremely precise and that is welcome. I have not yet heard a single player from the XV of France complain about the weather conditions. They are competitors, we prepared as well as possible for ten days. On this kind of match, compared to my experience, it may be time to look into this type of meeting and the programming at times that are still hot».
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Did you mention the possibility of modifying the programming of the second match?
«I don’t know if that’s a possibility. Everything was organized upstream, I would not allow myself to interfere in the decisions. What I know is that we have extremely competitive players, it’s a chance to have a XV of France capable of expressing itself in any situation. What is fundamental is to take into account the safety of the players».
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What are you planning to beat the heat?
«We have sought throughout the week to repeat a form of very precise protocol to allow the players, their bodies to regain an optimal temperature and rehydrate the bodies: towels, coolers placed behind the in-goal lines to allow players to rehydrate. Rehydration will be essential when we know that, during some high intensity training sessions this week, players went as far as losing 3.5 liters of water. These are data that must be taken into account, but we have no worries: we are confident in our ability to counter this. We have a performance cell that does a remarkable job».