Optimism is growing in the Ireland camp that torrential rain forecast for Sunday will now avoid Yokohama, but Rhys Ruddock says the men in green must be prepared for every eventuality in the crunch World Cup pool opener against Scotland.
“It will definitely change tactics,” said Ruddock.
“We’re going to have to prepare for all outcomes in terms of the weather.
“But we had some preparation already. It’s hard to know with the weather, it’s lovely out there today but it was lashing rain the other day.
“We might just have to adjust things on the day, we’re going to plan for best and worst case scenarios with as little tweaking in between as we have to.”
Scotland have used shampoo on their rugby balls and Wales have slathered baby oil on theirs in an attempt to replicate the difficulty of dealing with a greasy ball in humid conditions.
“I don’t own any shampoo,” grinned Ruddock, giving his shaved head a rub.
“The surfaces and everything will be great, it’s just a case of the wet ball and maybe that little bit more humidity.”
