Howley: Lions will thrive with heat on

Hong Kong’s intense heat and humidity may be “hellish”, in Conor Murray’s words, but British & Irish Lions assistant coach Rob Howley believes conditions for the opening game this weekend will stand his players in good stead for the three-Test series with Australia.

Temperatures are forecast to be hovering around 30C for the local evening kick-off time, with humidity at above 80%.

“I played in Japan four years ago for Ireland in the U20s World Cup and we played Uruguay and it was 36 degrees with this kind of humidity,” Murray said yesterday following the team’s first training session on the Chinese island.