Wales battling conditions in bid to end losing run

Wales centre Joe Roberts is kept refreshed during training

Summer tour first Test: Japan v Wales

Venue: Mikuni World Stadium, Kitakyushu Date: Saturday, 5 July Kick-off: 06:00 BST

Coverage: Watch live on BBC One Wales and BBC iPlayer; listen live on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru & BBC Sounds; text commentary and highlights on BBC Sport website and app.

Wales will not just be battling Eddie Jones' Japan side over the next two weekends.

Matt Sherratt's squad must also conquer heat and humidity in Kitakyushu on Saturday, 5 July and Kobe seven days later.

Talk of an extreme weather warning does not only apply to Europe right now, with this part of Japan also receiving such a forecast.

With both Test matches being played in mid-afternoon, Wales will have to deal with the searing sunshine if they are to break a 17-Test losing sequence that stretches back to October 2023.

How Wales cope with the conditions will be key to determining whether they can claim a first international win in 637 days.

Preparation began in Wales

Wales wing Josh Adams is one of four members of the 2025 squad who played in Japan in 2019 during the World Cup

Wales' backroom team began attempts to ensure players were accustomed to the challenge they will face on their summer trip even before they made the 6,000-mile journey to Japan last week.

There were a number of gruelling fitness sessions in a heat chamber at their base in Wales, while they trained with balls doused with washing up liquid to try to replicate the greasy conditions expected in the two Japan matches.

"As you can imagine at this level, a lot of the heat preparation went on before we came out, with the heat rooms and training in the conditions we were expecting," said Wales assistant coach Rhys Thomas.

"So it's all been prepared for."

Wales back row Aaron Wainwright believes the work has benefited the group.

"I think we've prepared well at home," he said.

"Training has been hard so hopefully that puts us in good stead starting this weekend."

Feeling the heat

Wales hooker Elliot Dee is one of three hookers in the squad alongside captain Dewi Lake and the uncapped Liam Belcher

Despite all the preparations, Wales' squad felt the heat when they first touched down on Japanese soil.

The thermometer has often been around 33C. The humidity makes it feel much hotter.

The layman could sweat just standing still in the shade. Wales players are expected to be at full throttle against Japan for 80 minutes.

During a training session on Monday that lasted an hour, the 33-man touring squad got through 144 litres of water and 450kg of ice, with each player spending a minimum of five minutes in one of the eight ice baths they had on site.

The volume was increased to 500kg of ice the following day in what was a longer session.

Using sun cream extensively has been a popular move, with hooker Elliot Dee and flanker Tommy Reffell resembling Australian and South African cricketers of the past in their white facial cover.

Scrum coach Adam Jones has been spotted wearing a dashing bucket hat, drawing parallels with another former Wales assistant coach, Robin McBryde.

Wales have trained in such heat before during camps in Switzerland and Turkey as part of their World Cup preparations.

They have rarely, though, played matches in these extreme conditions.

"I've been to Turkey and that's one of the hottest environments I've been in," said Wainwright.

"This is definitely right up there, especially humidity-wise. As soon you're stepping outside, you're borderline sweating straight away.

"It's going to be tough, but hopefully the preparation we've done plays a big part on the weekend."

How hot is too hot?

Cardiff flanker Alex Mann, who has been given an international recall, cools down during training

In 2025, World Rugby updated its heat and air quality guidelines, setting out the measures to be taken to support players taking part in hot conditions.

The fresh guidelines include at what point water breaks are introduced and measures such as extending the half-time break or if a game needs to be postponed or suspended.

The new regime focuses on a heat stress index rather than just basic air temperature.

The index runs between 0 and 250 with levels of heat stress determining what action will be taken, with the decision made on the day of the game.

Wales are hoping - and preparing as if - there will be some intervening measures this weekend.

"Our strength and conditioning, nutritionist and medical staff have got very good medical plans in place with our heat packs, our ice and recovery, trying to have as many breaks within the allotted time," said Thomas.

"We're hoping the strategy is going to go with heat restrictions almost in place, with a few breaks. We've been training for that accordingly."

Wainwright outlined what precautions have been taken.

"We had a tough training session on Tuesday," he said.

"We had a couple of soaking wet, ice-cold flannel hats to put on and some ice towels and cold water bottles.

"Hopefully that helps us recover and hopefully we get to use some of that in the game as well."

'We want to run Wales off their feet'

Japan coach Eddie Jones has fingers crossed the conditions will help his side.

The Australian has said he is "hoping it's a nice hot day, the sun comes out and we can really run Wales off their feet".

So it was no surprise Jones and Japan would not budge from wanting the match to being played at 14:00 local time, at the height of the afternoon heat.

Wales, therefore, know what to expect from Japan this weekend.

"They want to play a fast style of rugby," said Wainwright.

"They have a lot of strong and fast players in their backline and it is up to us to stop their strong attacking threats getting into the game.

"We will have to try and slow their ball down and impose ourselves on the game so they can't play fast."

Wales know they will need to be smart to cope with their environment.

"For both teams with the conditions, there is going to be lots of errors," said Thomas.

"It is how both sides adapt in the transitions which will have a big bearing on the result."