We've just seen the 2020-21 club season kick-off in Wales, Ireland and Scotland and already we are moving into international mode. Wayne Pivac and his Welsh coaching team must have been tearing out their hair during lockdown, but for the next eight weeks they will be hard at it once again.
France, Scotland, Ireland, England, Georgia and one other final fixture in the Autumn Nations Cup play-off will virtually be a re-run of last year's World Cup campaign in Japan. The biggest difference between then and now will be the restrictions imposed on the players by Covid-19.
They will leave their respective regions and go into the Welsh camp and be ‘bubbled' for the best part of two months. They will get one day a week off to return to their families, but under strict guidelines.
There will be no meeting up with friends for a cup of coffee, no big family gatherings and little hope of heading down the local. There is simply too much at stake.
How the eight teams involved in the Nations Cup conduct themselves between now and the end of the first week in December could be crucial ahead of the 2021 Six Nations. If there are a raft of positive coronavirus tests then it could make life difficult for the Championship in the new year.
“A raft of positive tests could make life difficult for the 2021 Championship”
We've already seen rising numbers of positive tests in the English Premiership, culminating in the sorry saga of Sale Sharks. To date there have been only three positive returns from the four Welsh regions and only a handful of cases in Ireland.
The Heineken Champions Cup finalists Racing 92 were hit with a scare a few weeks ago, and let's hope they will have a fully fit compliment for this weekend, but it must be getting harder as the weeks go by.
I know how difficult it can sometimes be to go on a long tour and miss your family. But at least whenever I was away it was under normal living conditions. We were able to go out, mix freely and not worry about catching a potentially deadly virus.
I think the players are deserving of the highest praise for the professional way in which they have conducted themselves to date in these extraordinary circumstances. The entertainment, music and games officers will be in demand and the Wednesday trip home will at least be a chance to relax and unwind in familiar surroundings.
The scarifices these players make to reach the top are huge. But now they are faced with having to make even more to play for their country. We should all remember that when we are cheering them on – and not forget they are doing it against a back drop of a 25 per cent pay cut.
