Having escaped the heavy rain of Murrayfield last Saturday, Eddie O'Sullivan's squad have been acclimatising to temperatures of up to 28 degrees and they continue their build-up for tomorrow's second warm-up match against French club side Bayonne.

"It's great to be able to train in these sorts of conditions as it gives us the chance to get a lot or work done without worrying about rain or the weather affecting what we do," said Ireland centre Gordon D'Arcy.

"It also gives us some idea of what we will be encountering when we get into the tournament. The sessions have been full on and guys are very keen to be involved in the game on tomorrow.

"For a lot of us it may be our first hit out of the season, so the intensity was really high".

Yesterday's training session was purposely lower in intensity to allow the squad, and most importantly the players who played against Scotland, to get used to the heat and rehab from last weekend's exertions.

The match against Bayonne is expected to be a 15,000 sell-out and O'Sullivan knows the local side will be desperate to cause a big upset.

"The game gives us a chance to get more game time for the squad which is what we need, so I would expect to get as many of the players who did not feature against Scotland on the park at some stage," said O'Sullivan.

"Teams in this part of the world take their rugby very seriously and in front of what is expected to be a full house, we expect to get a tough game" .

Munster flanker David Wallace sat out yesterday's session as the management continue to monitor his recovery from his ankle problem while Ulster prop Simon Best also required rehabilitation from a minor back spasm. Geordan Murphy did not train due to a dead leg he received in the 31-21 defeat to Scotland.

Meanwhile, Ulster Rugby have negotiated a deal with Aquinas Grammer School, which adjoins Ravenhill, to make use some of their parking facilities during the new season.

The 130 spaces go on sale today, in first instance to season ticket holders, at a cost of £60 and the pass will cover 15 games - the Ireland v Italy match, the two Ulster friendlies, nine Magners League and three Heineken Cup pool matches.

Meanwhile, new Ulster signing Simon Danielli will now be available for the start of the province's Magners League campaign after missing the cut for Scotland's World Cup squad.

.

Rob Dewey, Ulster's big-name signing from Edinburgh, is as expected included in Hadden's 30-strong line-up, which will rule him out of action for Mark McCall's side until October.

But obviously his progress with Scotland inthe interim will certainly be followed with interest by fans here.

SCOTLAND SQUAD: Backs: M Blair (Edinburgh), C Cusiter (Perpignan), R Dewey (Ulster), M Di Rollo (Edinburgh), A Henderson (Glasgow Warriors), R Lamont (Sale Sharks), S Lamont (Northampton), R Lawson (Gloucester), D Parks (Glasgow Warriors), C Paterson (Gloucester), H Southwell (Edinburgh), N Walker (Ospreys), S Webster (Edinburgh).

Forwards: J Barclay (Glasgow Warriors), K Brown (Glasgow Warriors), D Callam (Edinburgh), R Ford (Glasgow Warriors), J Hamilton (Leicester), N Hines (Perpignan), A Hogg (Edinburgh), A Jacobsen (Edinburgh), G Kerr (Glasgow Warriors), S Lawson (Sale Sharks), S MacLeod (Llanelli Scarlets), E Murray (Northampton), S Murray (Montauban), C Smith (Edinburgh), S Taylor (Stade Francais), G Thomson (Glasgow Warriors), J White (Sale Sharks, captain).