The Wallabies plan to conquer ‘cruel’ heat, ‘sly’ Eddie
The Wallabies are preparing for Eddie Jones’ Japan to try to run them off their feet as a brutal heatwave hits Osaka this week.
Temperatures have been hitting 37 degrees to go with sapping humidity, which should play into the hands of Jones’ uptempo Brave Blossoms on Saturday.
Officials have declared conditions as “cruelly hot” and Wallabies star Rob Valetini was mopping himself down with a towel before speaking to media on Tuesday.
Valetini hails from Canberra where overnight lows of -1 are expected this week.
“Pretty hot, hey. We just finished our session then so just trying to cool down, and I was just in the ice bath then,” the veteran flanker told reporters.
“It’ll be important for us to adapt to the weather, and we have been doing that with saunas daily and through training as well. Hopefully, we’ve prepared well.
“It said 90 (degrees Fahrenheit, 32 Celsius) in the hotel, but it feels a lot hotter than that. We’re just trying to get daily exposures to that, and I don’t know if it’s working today. I was pretty cooked, so we’ll see how we go.”
The match at Hanazono Rugby Stadium will be Les Kiss’ debut as Wallabies coach.
Kiss wants his team to play with freedom, but that is unlikely to translate to Valetini flick passes or cross-field kicks.
“For someone like Wilso (Harry Wilson), someone who can offload and free up his hands and get the ball out wide, yeah, there’s a bit more freedom within that.
“I don’t think there’ll be too many offloads or (new) skills, I think it’ll just be boys sticking to their skill-set and what they have to offer... I put in a kick last week, and then I got hit off the ball, so it might come out, who knows,” he quipped.
Australia fielded the second-heaviest forward pack in the Nations Championship in July.
At an average weight of 117kg, Australia ranked only below South Africa’s big boppers (118kg).
Japan were the second-lightest at 112kg, heavier only than Italy at 111kg.
Jones also has a plethora of Aussie exports at his selection disposal with Harry Hockings, Ben Gunter, Jack Cornelsen, Dylan Riley and Michael Stolberg in the mix.
Japan has never beaten the Wallabies but gave them a scare last year in a 19-15 Australia win in Tokyo.
Rob Valetini of Australia jumps over Michael Leitch of Japan in Sendai. Kenta Harada
Valetini packed down at No.8 that day in a team captained by the now unwanted Nick Champion de Crespigny.
“Japan are a team that love to play fast, and I think we saw a few of the games (in July), against France and Ireland, where they were taking quick taps, even in their half,” Valetini said.
“So we know that they want to play fast and obviously, it’s quite hot here. We think they’ll try to use that to their game plan and try to run us off our feet.”
Kiss is expecting tricks and mind games from “sly operator” Jones, who was coaching the Wallabies in 2002 when he helped steer him into a coaching gig with the NSW Waratahs.
Kiss was also coaching London Irish during Jones’ run with England.
Valetini was an automatic pick under Jones in 2023, but many players in Kiss’ squad were snubbed at the selection table.
England coach Eddie Jones talks to London Irish coach Les Kiss in 2019. nna\sworthington
“He believed in me and as a player that’s all I ever wanted - is coaches to believe in me,” Valetini said.
“He gave me a lot of belief. Obviously, it wasn’t great, but it’s the past now, and it’ll be interesting to go up against them.
“Nothing against Eddie or anything, just do it for the jersey.”
Kiss will name his first team on Thursday.
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