France get ready for fluid effort

France's players will drink litres of water and experiment with special cooling jackets before their second World Cup game against Japan in tropical Townsville on Saturday.

Team doctor Thierry Hermerel has asked the players to drink four litres of water a day and to add extra salt to their food until they fly to Townsville.

Hermerel said today: "Conditions will be very difficult and the only solution is to drink a lot of water and eat a lot of salt."

The French, who scored a convincing 61-18 win over Fiji in their opening Group B game on Saturday, will fly to Townsville on Friday afternoon on the eve of their game with Japan and leave on Sunday morning for Sydney.

Meanwhile, France coach Bernard Laporte said he had been impressed by Japan's performance in their first game against Scotland despite them losing 32-11.

Laporte said: "Okay, they lost but 15 minutes from time they were down only 15-11. They try to move the ball quickly and they play a very unpredictable game."