Greasy ball will test Wales in Japanese heat – Matt Sherratt

Matt Sherratt says he is more concerned by the prospect of a greasy match ball than the sweltering conditions facing Wales in Japan.

The temperature is expected to be around 30 degrees Celsius when Wales kick off at 2pm local time in Kitakyushu on Saturday, attempting to end a run of 17 consecutive Test defeats.

It will feel a lot more when high humidity is factored in and the Wales squad, who used a heat chamber at home ahead of the two-Test series, have turned to ice baths, ice towels and cold flannel hats since arriving in Japan.

“I didn’t go in the heat chamber – it was too hot,” said interim head coach Sherratt, who has made 11 changes from the side hammered by England in the Six Nations three months ago.

“But we’ve done everything we can to prepare the players for this. Players weren’t hugely excited about the heat chamber in Cardiff, but they worked really hard.

“It was as close as we would get in the UK to the temperatures in Japan, but it’s obviously different here because we’re training in it for 80 minutes rather than five or 10 minutes.

“We saw a lot of wet balls and we’ve trained in the middle of the day here to get used to the heat.

“If I’m honest it’s not the heat, it’s the ball (that’s a problem). It’s very difficult to keep the ball dry.

“It’s probably going to be a game on TV where the conditions look perfect, but the ball’s going to be really greasy and will test your skill set.”

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There are four survivors from the record 68-14 defeat to England in March, with number eight Taulupe Faletau, prop Nicky Smith, centre Ben Thomas and full-back Blair Murray remaining.

Faletau will win his 109th cap against Eddie Jones‘ Japan but the other two back-row members, Alex Mann and Josh Macleod, have only seven Test appearances between them.

Other than Faletau, only winger Josh Adams, prop Nicky Smith and scrum-half Kieran Hardy possess over 20 caps in the starting line-up.

Hooker Dewi Lake captains the side, inexperienced pair Ben Carter and Teddy Williams form a second-row partnership and centre Johnny Williams returns after last featuring at the 2023 World Cup.

There is some experience on the bench in prop Gareth Thomas and back-rowers Aaron Wainwright and Tommy Reffell.

Sherratt said: “We’ve had three weeks prep and it (selection) is a mixture of recent club form and trying to get some combinations that we’ve seen in training.

“It’s a new coaching group and we’ve tried to let the players start on an even playing field and select on what we’ve seen.

“We feel conditions are probably going to be tough to start with, and to have some real quality experience off the bench will be massive.

“It’s not really a 15 we’ve picked, it’s a genuine 23.

“I’ve learned at Cardiff that you don’t throw on all your experience at once because between 60 and 80 (minutes) is where some of the crucial decision-making comes in.”

The second Test will be played in Kobe on Saturday week.

READ MORE: Josh Macleod returning from injury ‘massive’ for Wales – Matt Sherratt