REGIONS’ STARS BACK IN TRAINING
WALES’ regions have returned to training as preparations continue ahead of the Guinness PRO14’s proposed return next month.
Players from the Dragons and Scarlets have been in action as the regions welcomed their players back after three months away due to the coronavius pandemic.
The Gwent region have returned to their Ystrad Mynach training base with the playing squad back in Stage One of return to training, under strict guidelines from government and health officials, as well as the club’s medical staff and WRU.
In the first stage of training, players are only permitted to take part in strength and conditioning and skills sessions while adhering to social distancing in small groups.
All players must travel to training alone and are temperature checked before entering the site.
Training also includes staggered starts and a one-way system in order to reduce the amount of interaction, while players aren’t permitted to use any other facilities at Ystrad Mynach other than the gym and outdoor pitches.
At the Scarlets, the players have been training in small groups for a restricted time period ahead of a targeted return to Guinness PRO14 action on August 22.
“It’s brilliant to be back,” new head coach Glenn Delaney told the Scarlets website. “It has been a long three months or so, but in fairness to the boys they have all kept themselves in great shape and stayed connected.
“We are really happy with how they have come in, their response has been excellent. It is just a chance for them to start refining now and building up their tolerance to play rugby.
“For pretty much all of them this would have been the longest time they would have had off. When you think of what they have missed we have just got to build them back up. It will be a case of slowly, slowly on that front building to the 22nd.
“For this initial phase of training, the players are coming in for limited training sessions in small groups.
“The Covid guidelines limit a lot of what you can do, but probably the biggest thing has been everyone seeing each other again.
“Obviously, with Covid there has been a complete behavioural change; everyone is turning up to work, having their temperature taken, signing in and filling in a questionnaire, there are one-way flows etc. There are a lot of new things to get through, but the boys are adjusting well.
“When you look at what the medical and S&C teams have been doing in pulling together the plan, the guys have done a great job.”