How Lions will counter jet lag to avoid repeat of 2017 fiasco
The first major challenge the British and Irish Lions will face when they touch down in Perth on Sunday will be overcoming jet lag. Eight years ago, the squad landed in Auckland just three days before their opening game against the New Zealand Barbarians in Whangarei, and some players were struggling so badly that they fell asleep on the bus to the game.
This time the Lions management team is determined to minimise the sleep disruption caused by travelling across seven time zones, which according to the latest science, can take up to 10 days to recover from. The Lions face the Western Force in Perth six days after they land.
The Lions party of 91 players, coaches, support staff and executives will each be given a personal plan devised by their sports scientists, Graeme Close, the head of performance nutrition, and Ben Pollard, a strength and conditioning coach, all overseen by Aled Walters, the head of athletic performance. The Lions have also partnered with sleep specialists Resmed for the tour.
'The sleep and jet-lag plans are a critical aspect of how well we hit the ground running in Australia,' says Walters. 'Everyone will expect the performance in Perth. No one will think 'but that was probably due to jet lag'. So that's why what these guys have done is critical.'
The first thing in the Lions' favour is that the last game before departure (Friday's loss to Argentina in Dublin) was eight days before their first tour game, unlike 2017 when players were involved in the Premiership and United Rugby Championship finals the previous weekend and the squad did not depart for New Zealand until the Monday.
'What we know from the science is that it typically takes a day and a half to adjust per time zone,' Close says. 'But what we can do is put the science into it and we can get that done in about three to four days. So if we get everything right, we can be completely adapted, ready to rip in for game one.'
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