RWC: Team 'essentials' force freight firm to boost capacity

England packed their own scrum machine. Photo / Kenny Rodger

The logistics company transporting Rugby World Cup teams' gear has had to order more trucks because of unexpected extra freight, including a scrum machine for England, a hyperbaric chamber for Japan and tonnes of coffee for France.

DHL Express, which is the official freight company for the tournament, allows four tonnes of freight a team, but few sides have kept to that amount.

Transport logistics manager Fred Donovan said: "Some teams are extremely organised, and probably some teams have ideas that [are not] that realistic.

"A lot of that is not under-standing New Zealand itself and the yards they've got to cover to get from one point to another."

The Japanese rugby side, which arrived yesterday, brought five tonnes of "carry-on" gear, on top of the four tonnes that had been flown to New Zealand earlier in the week.

Their freight included high-performance equipment such as a hyperbaric chamber and massage tables, and tonnes of specialised foods.

"I sat there thinking they'll be camping here for a few years with the amount of stuff they've brought," said Mr Donovan.

"The teams won't notice the difference ... but it's certainly more stressful. You have to make assumptions on size of vehicles and that had to double in size."

The England side's sponsorship deal with a foreign manufacturer meant it flew over its own scrum machine to avoid using another brand. Most teams chose to bring their own training equipment in order to keep a good understanding of their training performance.

But not all of the extra freight was directly related to rugby. The French rugby team's freight included several tonnes of high-quality coffee beans.

"It would be close to €10,000 ($16,800) of coffee," said Mr Donovan. "Maybe they think we've got the tea lady working for us."

Even small sides bring enormous loads. Fiji, weighed down by large amounts of clothing provided by their sponsors, brought a total of 107 large bags as carry-on luggage.

With 14 teams still to arrive and snow forecast in the South Island, Mr Donovan said DHL will face a few challenges yet.

"With a team like Japan ... most of their transport is within an island. But we need to get gear from Ireland to Queenstown soon ... and a bit of bad weather could make that difficult."

For each team move from city to city, DHL must make 12 truck pick-ups from hotels and training grounds at each end. In total, it will carry out 180 moves during the six weeks of the tournament.

DHL's logistics operation is further complicated during the tournament by its responsibility to transport drug-testing samples.

The blood and urine samples often have to move more quickly than teams, with turnaround times of 24 hours demanded by rugby authorities.

FREIGHT

4 tonnes per team + carry-on luggage

* Japan: hyperbaric chamber, massage tables, high performance food

* France: coffee

* England: scrum machine