As it happens it’s been raining in Cape Town which is where Ulster have opted to relocate from Johannesburg before heading back up to altitude for Saturday’s meeting with the Bulls.
So, they will spend part of the week at sea level before returning to the intense heat and lung-tightening air of the highveld with Pretoria’s Loftus Versfeld coming their way seven days after they experienced the same in Emirates Park when losing to the Lions.
It seems a strange enough way to go about two fixtures which must be fulfilled above sea level so, naturally, Ulster assistant coach Jonny Bell is asked to explain.
“I don’t know the exact science of it,” he says. “But we feel that unless you’re here for a number of weeks you’re not really going to see the benefit of altitude and staying at altitude.
“So, the feeling was to get down to Cape Town, it’s a place the boys are familiar with and there’s quite a bit to do down here outside of rugby.
“It gives the guys a better opportunity to relax and spend some time together and we’ll need what we need to get done, done.”
And they will require some cramming as elements of the performance at the Lions were not really at the mark with 38 missed tackles and 11 penalty concessions meaning that Ulster had too many fires to fight to have a shot at winning the match.
“Our one-on-one tackling needs to improve, no two ways about it,” is Bell’s response to the stats being aired.
“If our kick isn’t accurate, if our chase isn’t up to scratch, we need to be fundamentally better, but we also have to make sure we don’t put our defence under pressure.
“It’s about us working attack and defence together.
“Our defence has to make turnover opportunities, and our attack has to be accurate with the ball to take pressure off the ‘D’.
“We were a little bit inaccurate with the ball but the stats flow whatever way you want them to flow.”
Bearing all that in mind, Bell focused in on exactly what the message is this week as Ulster prepare to meet last season’s beaten finalists — who may well have former Ravenhill player Marcell Coetzee starting and a number of the Springbok squad available — in their own intimidating back yard.
“Everyone knows about their individual responsibility. The players spoke around the tackle, and we’ve got to be better.
“I’ve got to be coaching better and make sure we’re well prepared. It’s a team effort but we’ve got to be more accurate in everything we do.
“When you look back through the flow of that game (last Saturday’s bonus point defeat to the Lions) there were a litany of errors that caused us issues.
“Not just in defence, but attack and when you play at altitude, in the heat, those mental errors can hurt you badly.
“(But there was) The fight, the determination, we came back into that game and scored some great tries and that took a lot of juice out of the players.
“Don’t underestimate how much went into that game.”
Hence there may well be some rotation from Richie Murphy for Pretoria and though, naturally, Bell is not specific regarding team selection you get the idea that some of those who went the distance last weekend will not be asked to do the same again.
“We’ve a number of big fixtures coming up so it’s about putting a team on the field that we feel can do the job.
“(But) There are some guys we have to rest, some guys carrying knocks. That’s the nature of the game, but we need some freshness in there as well.”
“This season, it’s going to be a squad effort, a lot of young guys are going to get lots of opportunities.”
That all seems to chime with Murphy’s approach coming as he has from Ireland U-20s so he is well placed to oversee the transition towards the next wave of player coming through the system such as those currently in South Africa, James McNabney, James McCormick, Charlie Irvine, Ben Carson and James Humphreys with, so far, only McNabney and McCormick having seen gametime in Jo’burg.
As for the Bulls, there is no point in pulling punches as Jake White’s squad look certain to be another few notches up on last weekend’s opponents.
“They’re going to be hugely powerful up front,” Bell states. “Physically, they challenge you and then they’ve any number of players who are dangerous. It’s no small challenge but it’s a great challenge.”
And referencing the 35-22 loss to the Lions he adds: “It was quite the mountain to climb, but we dug in and got four tries. We came out with a point.”
“We want to be difficult to play against.
“Against the Lions we probably weren’t difficult enough to play against.
“That’s the challenge and that’s where we want to get to.”
Onwards and at least in terms of height above sea level, upwards to Pretoria.