Some players have compared the Gilbert ball in France to a bar of soap as late kick-offs and humidity play havoc with the opening stages of the tournament.
The late summer heatwave in France has dialled up the humidity and made the official Gilbert match ball extremely difficult to handle in some matches during the opening rounds of the Rugby World Cup, with players explaining that the ball has at times resembled “a bar of soap”.
George Ford, the England five-eighth, acknowledged after his side’s win over Japan in Nice that sweaty conditions had made maintaining possession with ball in hand a trickier task. But after moist conditions challenged England in first Marseille and then Nice, their remaining two matches in the pool stages are set to be played on France’s north coast in Lille, closer to their Le Touquet training base and in cooler, drier climes.
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