Wales get a warm welcome in Japan as team bursts into song
WALES produced a rousing rendition of Calon Lân at their official Rugby World Cup welcome ceremony in Japan yesterday.
Since their arrival in Kitakyushu, the players have been wowed by local schoolchildren, who performed the Welsh national anthem, as well as Calon Lân.
And the players returned the favour, bursting into song after receiving their caps from Welsh Rugby Union chairman Gareth Davies, in his role as a World Rugby director.
In preparation for the occasion, Wales sought the advice of opera singer Bryn Terfel, who helped out at
choir practice before the players flew out to Japan.
The squad was due to sing Calon Lân at their private welcome on Saturday – but changed their minds when local children sang a rendition which, by their own admission, was better than anything they could produce. Instead, Wales turned to Lawr ar Lan y Mor.
Wales have had a phenomenal reception in the city of Kitakyushu, with more than 15,000 people turning up to watch them at an open training session yesterday.
Thousands waited outside Mikuni Stadium up to three hours before it was due to begin. Several queues formed, with one of them estimated to be a kilometre long.
Wales star George North shared a video on social media as the team arrived, with a seemingly never-ending queue of locals snaking along the streets.
The Welsh team held a two-hour session, during which they met some of the fans, who also burst into the Welsh national anthem.
Locals were encouraged to turn up and sing, with an initiative last week inviting as many people as possible to learn Hen Wlad fy Nhadau along with Calon Lân.
With the city missing out on hosting a match, they have thrown their full support behind Wales – with Warren Gatland’s side spending six days there on a pre-World Cup training camp before their opening fixture against Georgia on Monday.
Wales young gun Owen Watkin described the welcome they’ve received. Speaking to the WRU, he said: “You see people driving past when you stop at traffic lights and they’ll recognise the three feathers and they start banging the windows and waving.
“It’s great they’re supporting us so much.”
Meanwhile, Gatland has revealed the team have been covering rugby balls in baby oil during training to prepare for the extreme humidity, which is expected to make for slippery and difficult playing conditions in the coming weeks.
He said: “We’ve done as much as we possibly can in terms of dealing with the heat.
“I think the humidity is going to be a factor. You can see how warm it is, but with the later kick-offs those temperatures are going to drop to about 20 degrees.
“It’s going to be a lot cooler, but the challenge then is going to be the humidity and dealing with a slippery ball. It’s how we cope with that.”