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CARY, N.C.
(WTVD) -- As temperatures continued to climb across the Triangle, players and organizers preparing for a World Rugby Nations Cup match in Cary spent Friday managing the heat ahead of the United States' matchup against Spain.
"Gotta hydrate.
You got to be drinking electrolytes constantly because we're sweating like crazy," said USA Men's Rugby captain Jason Damm.
Damm, who grew up in Georgia and played college rugby at Clemson, said the conditions are familiar.
"I live out on the West Coast now, but this is nothing new for me," he said.
"In fact, doing it without shoulder pads and helmet like I did in high school two-a-days, it's not so bad." Despite the heat, Damm said the team embraces practicing in difficult conditions.
"We just push hard because we know we got to push harder in the game," he said.
"We don't really want to limit it.
You kind of want to feel every bit of it during the week so that you can go for it on Saturday." Organizers emphasized that player safety remains a top priority.
"Player safety is paramount in any contact sport," said Jim Anderson, general manager of U.S.
event operations for World Rugby.
"With heat in particular, we've got particular regulations about what point play gets suspended." Anderson said heat protocols include mandatory water breaks during matches when conditions warrant.
"What we do is 40-minute halves in rugby.
After 20 minutes, when conditions are like this, the referees are going to call a halt to the game, and there'll be a water break for a couple of minutes, just a place to cool down and then get on with the game." He added that Saturday's 7:30 start time was intentional.
"It's no coincidence that we're doing an evening kickoff for something like this," Anderson said.
"It's obviously cooler later you get in the day." The match also highlights growing interest in rugby in North Carolina.
"It seems like a great stadium, a great pitch.
Excited to get out and show the people of Cary some rugby," Damm said.
"North Carolina's a great spot in terms of the market, in terms of the interest in sports in the area," Anderson added.
"Great stadium.
Just seems like a natural fit to start bringing the game here." The USA Men's Rugby team played a match in Charlotte earlier this month, defeating Zimbabwe 31-15.
Anderson added that Charlotte is one of 31 cities that are bidding to serve as a host for the 2031 men's rugby World Cup.
"With each increased exposure of the game, we see more and more athletes want to give it a try," said Dave Krosner, co-founder of Raleigh Redhawks Rugby.
"It's a great, fun game to play." Krosner said North Carolina has strong representation in youth rugby, including nationally successful programs in Charlotte.
"North Carolina (has) two national championship high school teams out of Charlotte," he said.
"A youth player our teams have played against for years will be featured on the field.
So there's a lot of local flavor." The Raleigh Redhawks program includes more than 100 players ranging from pre-kindergarten through high school.
"Rugby really has a position for every body shape (and) type of athlete.
We've worked with local football clubs.
We've taught tackling techniques.
A lot of the football teams are adopting rugby tackling techniques for better safety.
We've worked with several different programs and recruited from wrestlers (and) basketball players.
We love athletics, and we believe in multi-sport kids," Krosner said.
He noted Saturday's marquee match-up is the culmination of a full day of activities on-site, including tournaments from 9 AM to 3 PM, a youth clinic open to all kids 14 and younger from 10 AM to noon, and then the opening of Rugby Village near the entrance from 4 to 6 PM.
"The rugby community is excited, and we're hoping others will come and put their eyes on it as well," Krosner said.
"We have to do a little bit of education at certain games.
We've got some nice, simple explaining graphics for what's going on because when people see it, they're amazed by it and think it's fantastic.
We just need to kind of make it fun to learn about the sport and the rules along the way," said Anderson.