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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Sport
Michael Scully

James Ryan explains how Ireland are coping with the heat in Japan

James Ryan has explained how Ireland are dealing with the heat and humidity of Japan.

For Ryan, it's been a new experience to have to change his jersey at half-time in games - something that he admits he's never had to do before.

"The stadium (in Kobe) on Thursday - I wasn’t even playing and it felt like a greenhouse when I walked into it," he said.

"So there are those environmental challenges, but I think we’re dealing with them a bit better now.

"You need an extra bit of focus when the ball’s coming your way, because it’s definitely slippery. It’s like playing in the wet in Ireland.

"The jerseys are so heavy. We were training a lot over the summer with bin-bags under our jerseys to get us used to that sweat exposure.

"Since we’ve got here we haven’t done any of that because you don’t really need to."

Ryan explained that Ireland have been using different cooling strategies.

"When you come in after training, you put the ice bags on your neck," he remarked. "That cools you down quicker. Cold towels on your forearms.

"There’s a bin, full of ice, and you put your forearms into it and it’s supposed to cool down your core temperature quickly.

"Slushies as well – literally like a slush-puppy. It cools down your core temperature quicker than cool water would, little things like that certainly make a difference".

Ireland are now hopeful that Jordi Murphy's rib injury isn't serious and that the Ulster flanker will be able to remain with the squad.

Murphy suffered the injury against Russia on Thursday, having only come into the squad two days earlier as Jack Conan's replacement.

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