Wales coach John Kear has asked for the relevant authorities to show some ‘common sense’ in regards to water breaks in warm temperatures – after revealing they asked for them, and were rejected, in Papua New Guinea over the weekend.
The Welsh were beaten 50-4 in Port Moresby by PNG, and they head to another warm environment this weekend, when they move to Townsville to play their second group game against Fiji on Sunday.
And Kear said that he wants more duty of care to be taken towards player welfare after revealing his frustration in the water break request being turned down.
“That’s the one thing we’re really irritated about,” Kear said. “As as coach, I have the players’ welfare in mind. We requested water breaks and we were declined them. “But we looked at other games taking place on the same day with temperatures not as high as ours and the humidity not as tortuous, and there were water breaks.”
Kear also revealed he has put the request in for the issue to be looked at in more detail when it comes to European teams playing in unfamiliar climates.
“We’ve asked for the protocol to be examined and for a little more common sense to be shown,” said Kear.
“When it’s a European team that is playing in temperatures and in conditions that are totally foreign to them in PNG and in Cairns and in Townsville, I think there should be areas of grey rather than black and white and I hope common sense will prevail.”
