Cool Gatland is not feeling the heat ahead of Fiji test

WARREN GATLAND has no doubt that Wales are fully conditioned for Bordeaux’s blistering heat as they aim to turn up the temeprature on Rugby World Cup opponents Fiji.

It is due to hit 36 degrees Celsius today, while not dropping much below 30 a day later despite a kick-off of 9pm local time tomorrow.

Wales, though, look set to reap the benefits of punishing conditions at training camps in Switzerland and Turkey that formed a central part of their tournament warm-up.

“I think in international rugby you have to go to dark places and you have to be hurting,” said Wales head coach Gatland. “It’s whether other teams are hurting that little bit more than you.

“Everyone is talking about the heat being an advantage to Fiji but we’ve had some pretty gruelling sessions in heat so we are conditioned to that.”

Focus

Wales meet Fiji for the fifth successive World Cup in a pool game, and while they have won three in a row after being dumped out of the 2007 tournament, they are expecting a fierce challenge.

Fiji’s quality – and a far stronger set-piece than previously – was shown in their historic victory over England at Twickenham last month.

Gatland added: “You’ve just got to defend well for a start. We know they are dangerous.At some stage, they will make a break or get an offload away.

It’s then how we react to that quickly.

“For us, we’ve spoken about discipline and keeping them out of our 22. They tend to come alive in opposition 22s. We are in a good place for the challenge, physically and mentally.”