Recovery key as Lowe and Doris sweat it out

Ireland may have made it look easy against Romania but James Lowe says the conditions were the most difficult he has ever played in.

The match kicked off at 3.30pm local time and the temperatures reached 35C on the pitch at the Stade de Bordeaux.

Part of the playing surface was shielded from direct sunlight by the shadow of the stands but the humidity hit 27% and Lowe, a native of New Zealand, says their pre-World Cup training camps stood to them.

"It was 35 degrees but sure, look, we've been prepping for these conditions for the last seven weeks," said Lowe, who won his 22nd cap in the 82-8 win.

"We spent time in Portugal, we spent time a couple of weeks ago in Biarritz and it was everything we expected and more. Jeeze, it was hot out there.

"Bloody Keith [Earls] had the easy ride in the first half [in the shade], but look everyone has to do it so you can’t really lean on that as an excuse.

"It was bloody hot. No [I haven’t played in such heat before], definitely not. Not ever.

"I played in Suva [in Fiji] before but that was different, that was muggy and very, very slippery.

"Actually, I feel like we handled the conditions quite well. I mean if you saw the New Zealand-France game [Friday] it was very, very slippy.

"When it gets any sort of dew from the boys’ jerseys and you get the ball on them, you actually drop passes and it’s literally because the ball is so slippery.

"But a couple of dry towels whenever you can and a little bit of sticky spray goes a long way.

"We weigh in and we weigh out, and it’s no surprise that it’s two three kgs a loss in that sort of heat. It’s all about getting fuel back in."

Number 8 Caelan Doris (above) also said it was a challenge.

"Especially with the scrum cap on, I was melting at times," he said.

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