Durban – The Ulster rugby players have been turning up the heat in their baths to mimic the sweaty conditions they will experience in Durban on Saturday.
The game was supposed to take place on October 22 but Ulster claimed they had “jippo guts” and went home 24 hours before kick-off, much to the annoyance of the Sharks.
The game was postponed until February 25 which is in the height of the humidity hell that KZN annually suffers, and Ulster may end up wishing they had found a way to honour the fixture in cooler October.
But this Saturday it is, and they need no reminding that it will be not only “mad dogs and Englishmen that go out in the midday sun”, as Rudyard Kipling once said, but also Irishmen.
Flanker Jordi Murphy said this before departure for deepest Africa: “It’s tough but we aren’t going to make excuses about it, we are professionals. We can talk about climate and the travel schedule but at the end of the day, it’s two teams against each other.
“If we are switched on mentally we will have a good chance. It will be a physical test and we hoped to play it a while ago, but it has come around again and we are looking forward to it.”
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On the challenges of playing in the heat, Murphy added: “It’s close to 24 hours of travel (from Belfast) and it will be hot over there so we have tried to do some heat acclimatisation — saunas, hot baths, staying hydrated, anything that will help.
“You have to be vigilant because if you don’t do the heat acclimatisation up until the day before you can get a serious shock to the system.”
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