Lions ask for water breaks to beat Hong Kong heat

A ball has yet to be kicked but the British & Irish Lions are already breathless, falling victim to hot and humid Hong Kong. In an extraordinary move, they want water breaks in their opening game on the 2013 tour of Australia against the Barbarians today.

And not one, but two water breaks in each half, underlining how focused they are on the health of players before the tour gets serious in Perth next week with the Lions bidding to break a 16-year winless series drought.

"We will have water breaks at the 15- and 30-minute marks in each half," said assistant coach Andy Farrell, the Lions' defence coach. "This is commonsense really when we play in heat like this."

With today forecast to be the hottest day this year - temperatures reaching 33 degrees Celsius and humidity touching 90 per cent - the Lions have done a U-turn after saying on Wednesday they wanted to test themselves under stressful conditions.

"It will be good for us to be under this heat stress in training as well as during the game," assistant coach Rob Howley said. "As far as we are concerned, the more pressure we are under the better in the lead-up to Australia."

But fears that half the side might have to be carried off the pitch and on to the flight leaving for Perth tomorrow have resulted in the Lions management taking a more prudent approach.

"I can't remember a Lions game in recent years, which has had water breaks. Maybe in the old days they might have had it, but certainly not in the last 25 years," said bemused English TV pundit Stuart Barnes, reacting to the time-out announcement at yesterday's eve-of-the-match media briefing.