Ulster Preparing In Saunas And Hot Baths For Battle In Durban

 

Ulster hopes to bounce back after a disappointing 17-11 defeat against Glasgow Warriors at Scotstoun Stadium in Round 14 of the United Rugby Championship.

Ulster assistant coach Dan Soper says the squad can take a lot from their previous experiences in South Africa into the tie.

"It’s a challenge but in fairness to the medical and performance team, there has been a lot of thought into how we can best prepare ourselves and how we go about this week. We are physically preparing for them, we aren’t using travel or heat as an excuse. The guys have been preparing with hot baths and we will be ready for Saturday."

"The players will have learned from their previous trips, the more you do it the better you get at it we have factored that into preparation for this one."

Dan Soper said on the challenge they will face against the Cell C Sharks, " It will be a big challenge, their last game against the Emirates Lions, the Cell C Sharks overpowered them and have very dangerous powerful players so it's an excellent challenge for us."

The squad are undergoing heat preparation in order to try and acclimatise to hotter weather conditions in Durban, where the weather and humidity are much different from Belfast.

Ulster flanker Jordi Murphy outlined how the team were feeling after Glasgow and how his match prep was going for Durban.

On the quick turnaround to South Africa, he said " It's tough, we aren’t going to make excuses about it, we are professionals. We can talk about climate and schedule but at end of the day it's two teams against each other."

"If we are switched on mentally we have a good chance. It will be a physical test and we hoped to play it a while ago but it's come around again and we are really looking forward to it."

"It's close to 24 hours of travel, so we have to try and get as much sleep as we can on the flights, it will be hot over there so try and do some heat acclimatisation, saunas, hot baths, staying hydrated, anything that will help.

You have to be vigilant because if you don’t do it up until the day before you can get a serious shock to the system."