Brrrr! - Connacht adjusting to Siberian conditions as John Muldoon's beard freezes over

Connacht forward John Muldoon pictured in the freezing Russian weather today. Pic credit: Twitter/@JohnMuldoon8

Declan Whooley

November 12 2015 07:22 PM

Connacht players are used to inclement weather conditions for rugby matches, but even the men from the West will be taken aback by the freezing Siberian conditions.

Pat Lam’s side take on Enisei-STM on Saturday in the Challenge Cup as the squad arrived yesterday with local temperatures reaching -12C.

While it will be a big occasion for Russian rugby - it will be the first European rugby game to be played in Russia – and a huge crowd is expected at the 22,500-capacity Central Stadium.

The freezing conditions were best illustrated by John Muldoon’s frozen beard.

'Frozen solid' - hard to explain the cold we felt at today's session but @JohnMuldoon8 beard says it #RoadToRussia pic.twitter.com/Grg3ZfrCxM
— Connacht Rugby (@connachtrugby) November 12, 2015

The players were up early to explore Krasnoyarsk this morning #RoadToRussia pic.twitter.com/Xbnj1okG5B
— Connacht Rugby (@connachtrugby) November 12, 2015

Out with @connachtrugby this morning in Russia and @JohnMuldoon8 caught @FinlayBealham lovely with this snowball! pic.twitter.com/nl6rbxNKGc
— Inpho Photography (@Inphosports) November 12, 2015

This pic will give you an idea of the tough training conditions @connachtrugby went through this morning in Russia! pic.twitter.com/yMlgxzusAf
— Inpho Photography (@Inphosports) November 12, 2015

The squad trained indoors yesterday at a basketball court where they did a light training session to offset the marathon 5,800km journey from Shannon.

"We are looking forward to it, it is going to be a different experience,” Jack Carty said this week. “We have been training early morning this week, so we have a good prep for it. It is the first opportunity for any of us to go and experience this different culture.

"It is going to be a big challenge, against a big, physical team. We played them three or four times now already, and they have always been tight games so we are expecting it the same again this weekend," added Carty.

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