At a time when the vast majority of the usual frame of the XV of France probably benefits from the shade of an umbrella around a swimming pool, the Blues version summer 2022 are sweating, and are preparing to sweat even more.
The 42 players of Fabien Galthié, gathered in Marcoussis (Essonne) since Monday June 20, are preparing for these two matches on Japanese soil on July 2 and 9, but also to fight against a more devious and impossible to fool opponent: the heat. moist Japanese summers.
If, as in France, the degrees rise in summer on the archipelago, the humidity that reigns there often complicates the lives of athletes, suffocated by this sticky atmosphere.
In the summer of 2021, this almost tropical atmosphere had been a major topic of discussion at the Tokyo Olympics, with a humidity level that often exceeded 80% and temperatures felt around 40. “The climatic conditions are drastic”, summarizes Thibault Giroud, director of performance of the Blues.
To best prepare his troops, the boss of the tricolor physical preparation and the staff have already arranged the sessions even before leaving for Asia, this Wednesday.
From Monday, June 20, the players chained the physical exercises in the environmental room, a space where the players can chain cardio and weight training exercises in a temperature of 50°C, while supporting a relative humidity rate of 100%.
Tights to sweat in training
In training, tights and sweatshirts were out under the traditional chasuble-swimsuit set.
A dress code of rigor to prepare the bodies and the spirits for this sweating once on the grounds of the land of the Rising Sun.
"It allows us to immerse ourselves in the conditions that we will have, even if it does not exactly replace what we will experience there," said scrum-half Maxime Lucu.
It will play a lot, because we know that sweating has consequences on the game. It makes passes more difficult.
There are more balls that fall on contact, as we have seen in the first meetings of the 2019 World Cup.
In the group, only captain Charles Ollivon, Damian Penaud, Virimi Vakatawa and Demba Bamba traveled three years ago for the World Cup.
For others, it will be a discovery.
But their presence is not the simple fact of rotations of rigor at one year of the World Cup.
The staff of the Blues favored, especially among the forwards, "more mobile, less heavy profiles", according to Giroud, to support the speed of the Japanese game in the midst of this heat.
While waiting for this confrontation, the XV of France has an appointment this Wednesday at Roissy to board a 14-hour flight, from which they will emerge Thursday, June 23 in the middle of the afternoon on the spot.
A first contact with Tokyo, more than a week away from serious things.