Wales aim to change Leitch opinion after heat comments
Wales are hoping Japan captain Michael Leitch will not see the tourists struggling in the Kobe heat on Saturday.Leitch said the Wales players were "blowing" and "the guys in the red shirts were feeling it more than us" during the latter stages of Japan's 24-19 victory in Kitakyushu.Conditions are expected to be very humid in Kobe in the second Test match with with the Noevir Stadium having a retractable roof that is expected to be closed as Japan look to complete a first series victory against Wales."Their captain came out after the game and said a few things," said Wales scrum coach Adam Jones."So hopefully we'll pay heed to that and hopefully he'll have a different opinion of us after the game on Saturday."
The match kicked off at 14:00 local time in the mid-afternoon session with this weekend's start time 50 minutes later.The extreme conditions resulted in three-minute water breaks being introduced in each half and an extended half-time interval of 20 minutes, with players wearing ice caps to keep cool."It was sensible around World Rugby, giving the water breaks," said Jones."It was touch-and-go whether that was going to be the case but there was enough stoppages and ball-in-play time wasn't massive."The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) lobbied to change the kick-off time but Japan and head coach Eddie Jones had their wish of when the game started."A lot of it was made around Eddie having the time [he wanted]," said Jones."If I remember correctly, Wales played the same sort of time in the last summer tour when we were in Japan. So I am sure Eddie was not up to his old tricks."Before arriving in Japan, Wales tried to prepare the players with sessions in a special heat chamber."It was hot for both sides, we've done as much as we can, being in Wales, it's not as if we're living in Dubai," said Jones."You can put the boys in the heated chamber, have them wearing extra layers of stuff, but it doesn't replicate that."
Seeking scrum clarity
The Welsh set-piece struggled in the Japan heat as the visitors' scrum initially had the upper hand before the hosts took control.Jones says he has sought clarity of some of the interpretations of referee Damian Schneider, with the more experienced English official Luke Pearce taking charge in Kobe on Saturday."It was frustrating I didn't pick up on what they [Japan] were doing, it's hard when you're not in there," said Jones."I've had a few positive phone calls and chats with the people we need to speak to around this type of stuff, so hopefully it'll be a bit different on the weekend and looked at in a different way."We need to be better ourselves, we'll change a few bits around and hopefully we put a better performance on the field."I'm pretty analytical. I won't be ranting or raving. I'll make sure we get back to what we need to do and get the process that gives us the best chance of being dominant."Japan kept their front-row trio on for 80 minutes in the searing sunshine."They were technically good," said Jones."We were bigger, as in bigger men, heavier men, but certainly across the back five of the scrum, there was a lot of weight constantly through the whole course of the game."
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