{"id":205326,"date":"2025-06-22T14:35:17","date_gmt":"2025-06-22T14:35:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/205326\/"},"modified":"2025-06-22T14:35:17","modified_gmt":"2025-06-22T14:35:17","slug":"some-boys-were-like-thats-the-hardest-thing-ive-ever-done","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/205326\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Some boys were like, \u2018that\u2019s the hardest thing I\u2019ve ever done\u2019’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Josh Adams is relishing a return to the scene of his World Cup heroics as Wales<\/a> prepare to face the fierce heat and humidity of a Japanese summer.<\/p>\n

Adams was the top try scorer at the 2019 Rugby World Cup<\/a> in Japan, scoring seven tries as Wales finished fourth under Warren Gatland.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was good. Different squad, different times,\u201d Cardiff wing Adams said, reflecting on a tournament where Wales beat Australia<\/a> and France, and took South Africa<\/a> to the semi-final wire.<\/p>\n

\u201cFond memories over there. Great country, few different areas, lovely people and a good rugby team as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wales\u2019 stock has fallen heavily since the halcyon days of two World Cup semi-final appearances and Six Nations<\/a> Grand Slam success under Gatland.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Japan <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Wales <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Kiwi\u2019s second spell in charge ended in February during what would become a second successive winless Six Nations campaign for Wales.<\/p>\n

Matt Sherratt was appointed interim head coach \u2013 overseeing three more defeats to extend Wales\u2019 losing run to 17 \u2013 and remains in charge for the two-Test series against Eddie Jones\u2019 Japan next month.<\/p>\n

Only one place separates the two nations in the World Rugby rankings \u2013 Wales are 12th, Japan 13th \u2013 and Adams acknowledges playing the Brave Blossoms in their own backyard is a far different proposition in the summer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the big difference from 2019 is the time of year because we didn\u2019t go over there until September last time,\u201d said Adams, who is yet to play under his Cardiff coach Sherratt on the international stage after tearing his hamstring in February.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo the temperature\u2019s different, humidity makes it feel like 10 degrees warmer than what it actually is.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you look at your temperature gauge, it might only say 25 but humidity (makes it) feel like 35. So we\u2019ve done a fair bit of prep for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The plan to counter conditions awaiting them in Japan<\/a> has included exhausting sessions in the heat chamber at their Vale of Glamorgan training base, and using rugby balls soaked in soapy water.<\/p>\n

Adams said: \u201cI came out of the chamber on Friday and some boys were like, \u2018that\u2019s the hardest thing I\u2019ve ever done\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s got to be in the top three worst I\u2019ve felt after a session. It was 35-36 degrees (Celsius) and 87 per cent humidity. It\u2019s brutal, horrible.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re all crammed in there so it\u2019s really uncomfortable when you\u2019re knackered and you want a bit of space just to breathe. You can\u2019t because it\u2019s so hot and stuffy and everyone\u2019s up against each other.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had the ball in a bit of water. Doing skills straight out of the heat chamber, so the heat\u2019s wrapped right up in there.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying to copy what the climate will be like out there as best we can, so we\u2019re in a good space to cope with anything.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Josh Adams is relishing a return to the scene of his World Cup heroics as Wales prepare to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":205327,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4102],"tags":[4151,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-205326","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114727519799877101","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205326","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=205326"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205326\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/205327"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=205326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=205326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=205326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}