Tour diary entry #5: Mini-meals, an uncapped man impressing and Craig who?
Preparations are ramping up for Wales' final Test of the season
It’s a little bit livelier in Kobe compared to Kitakyushu.
Rather than watching the Lions on a German TV stream on my phone, it sounds like some local bars will be showing it. (There was a brief consideration of doing player ratings from the pub - something I was probably accused of on Saturday.)
That’s quite handy for me, but it’s probably not a bad thing for Wales either.
My understanding is that Wales were being encouraged to spend both weeks in Kitakyushu, given how fervently the city has adopted them.
In the end, especially with last Saturday’s result, one week was probably enough. Being in Kobe this week will probably be good for the squad as they try keep the pressure at a manageable level ahead of the final Test of the season.
Certainly, the squad’s food committee will be delighted after heading a couple of hours east on the bullet train.
Finding restaurants that can cater for a 33-man touring rugby squad is no easy feat, but the lack of options made life harder when it came to Wales’ ‘mini-meals’ - where players and staff are split into smaller groups to head to different restaurants.
Wales full-back Blair Murray - most definitely not on the food committee - takes up the story when it comes to their ‘mini-meals’ exploits in Kitakyushu.
“They had a shocker last week. They sent the backs to some place, I can't remember what it was called.
“But it was supposed to be a nice Japanese restaurant. When we got there, everything was raw and there was a lot of seafood.
“A few of the boys aren't big on seafood, including myself. The fact it was raw made it even worse.
“We were there, had about three mouthfuls of food and then had to order some pizzas. Even then, it was a only a couple of slices each.
“So we had to find somewhere else to eat. They had one shocker but other than that, it's been alright.”
Food committee chastened and fined then, but Kobe should at least provide some variety - particularly if the squad like beef.
In terms of Murray’s own committee work, the full-back has been ousted from joke of the day - “They got sick of hearing me” - to entertainment.
So far, his job has largely revolved around organising golf days on the team’s days off.
However, he’s had a fair bit of help from team manager Martyn Williams when it comes to finding courses.
“To be honest, Nug has been doing most of the organising. I've just been asking who's keen, putting the numbers through and sorting the groups.
“We've had a couple of good golf days. Only a few of the boys went on Monday but they said it was a pretty good day. I think it's been alright.”