Jamie Heaslip is dripping. So is Iain Henderson. They come before us underneath the Millennium stadium after a lunch time Captain's Run, the lightest session of their week, with sweaty, matted hair.
Outside it’s a sunny day in Cardiff but this invisible wall of heat envelopes us walking out of the tunnel. Imagine the place with 71,000.
Weirdly, it instantly feels like night time (think Despacio at the Electric Picnic just without the solar system above your head or James Murphy on the dex).
The humidity might get some players. Not the Irish number eight.
“It’s really, really hot which is great,” says Heaslip ever the positive soul. “Kind of different. Not like what we get most of the year. You think it is going to be really dry but if we get the support that’s been building with the roof closed it can get pretty humid so the ball can be a bit slippy. But otherwise it’s great, I really like it, it adds to the atmosphere. It gets really, really loud.”
Glen Jackson is referring Ireland and Canada tomorrow. Jamie and Paulie in his ear, the former Maori outhalf penalised Ireland 13 times when they played Wales here last month.
“I gave three penalties away that day and I got away with one. That would probably bring it down into single figures alone. We’ll worry about ourselves, worry about our job, take that out of the ref’s hands and just play good rugby.”
Henderson is next. His story, his rise since out muscling Baby Boks In South Africa at the Under-20 World Cup in 2012 already has us comparing him to the great Ulster locks who have driven Irish packs down through the generations - from Jeremy Davidson to Paddy Jones to Willie Anderson to Willie John McBride, Ireland have always been better for such northern steel.
“I’m an Ulster six though!” the 23 year old jokes. “No, there definitely is a connection there and hopefully I can be one of them in the future.”
The future being Saturday afternoon.
