Wales legend Roberts on his emotional, humbling experience watching NHS workers fighting on the frontline to beat Covid-19

The 97-cap Wales and Lions centre returned from South Africa’s Cape Town when the crisis halted the Super Rugby season to volunteer for the Cardiff and Vale Trust and was blown away by what he saw.

“I’ve not seen a level of resilience like it in my life,” said Roberts (at a hospital in Llandough, Wales, right). “We talk about resilience in sport – in rugby it’s about showing it to bounce back after you lose a game or have an injury – but this really put resilience in perspective.

“There were intensive care nurses who potentially couldn’t go to work because of the damage masks had done to the skin on their noses after doing 13-hour shifts.

“They were doing everything in their power to help their patients. It was humbling.

“I know we clap them on a Thursday but they deserve so much more than that.” Tasked with chronicling the coronavirus fight close up, the qualified doctor’s blog was read by more than 50,000 people.

“To try to tell the story was emotionally difficult,” he said.

“Being able to combine accurate information with empathy was the most challenging part.

“I spent an hour and a half writing a piece on critical care, but read it back to myself through the eyes of someone who may have lost someone, and deleted it all. I started again. It had good feedback in the end.”

In London, working on a Masters in Business Administration while he waits for rugby to restart, the sport’s renaissance man (in action for Wales, right) is resigned to his spell with the Stormers being timed out by the virus.

“My original contract was from January until June, so it is highly unlikely I will be able to get back out there. I’m out of contract post-June,” he said. “Going there was a chance to broaden my understanding of the game, and to experience a different style, which tested my skillset and my fitness.

“I really enjoyed it even though I only played five Super Rugby games. The most disappointing thing was that I never got to travel. In April, we were meant to go away on a fiveweek stint to New Zealand, Australia and Japan, and I was hugely looking forward to that.”

Where next for the 33-year-old is up in the air. He added: “I’d love the idea of finishing my career at home where it started in Cardiff, but the appeal of being abroad and experiencing something new is attractive. We’ll see what is out there.”

‘We clap, but they deserve so much more’