How has everyone settled into South Africa so far?
We’ve had a good week and a half so far – acclimatising to the heat, and getting back on top of sleep patterns, with food, and staying hydrated – and the guys have settled in well. There’s not much not to like about the set-up we have here in South Africa.
What are the challenges preparing for a trip such as South Africa, and when the squad are out here?
The main ones to prepare for are the heat and the altitude. It’s not something, with COVID-19 restrictions, that we’ve been able to do much of by using the chambers at Ulster University to prepare as we normally do. We’ve tried to get the guys as much exposure on-field as we can, and see it as an opportunity over the two weeks. Two good weeks to prepare for these games, and for the rest of the season.
What sort of challenge do you think we’ll face on Saturday against the Vodacom Bulls?
The main difference is that we’ve come up to Pretoria for a week; normally we would base ourselves in Cape Town and travel up a bit later, but we’ve given ourselves this week to acclimatise to the change in altitude. First training day today where guys can really feel the difference, and I would probably say the heat has kicked up a bit compared to Cape Town, so I daresay the guys will take a fair bit of recovery to get over the session, but great exposure for us.
In terms of recovery and downtime, how important is that in terms of the guys being ready and also for team bonding?
You can do too much sometimes. You’re in camp together, and living in each other’s pockets. I think what we’ve done really well in this camp is to be really tight when we’re on the training field - and we’ve committed to training hard – but when we’re off it, we’ve given guys plenty of breaks and time to recover. We’re doing lots of pool sessions, but we’ve got pools in the hotels, and guys can self-manage, and look after hydration themselves. We keep checking-in with people, but giving them plenty of space too.