The last few months have been a rollercoaster navigating through lockdown due to COVID-19. It feels strange saying rugby is my escape from everyday life because it was part of everyday life to me. Life just felt different without the normality of getting to run out onto the pitch and watching games at the weekend.
The wait is over. Its been 23 weeks but at last ‘Premiership Rugby is back’ something I’ve been waiting for so long to hear. The stage is set, safety measures in place. The familiar sound of the referees whistle and we’re off. I’m expecting for this first tackle to be so spectacular you can feel it through the television. So spectacular it makes up for all this time without rugby. Then reality kicks in, this big collision I was waiting for stopped by a dropped ball.
With hindsight maybe I shouldn’t have expected for one game to make up for the amount of games that have been missed. This is like any other start to the season. The players are rusty and need to get back to the level they finished the previous season. When the players do reach this level its going to be thrilling to watch players that have had time to recover from underlying injuries and take their fitness to a new level. All of this can only lead to a more physical, faster and overall more exciting style of rugby.
National governing body road map for return to play
What does this mean for the non-professionals?
Despite the joy of knowing live rugby is back I know that it doesn’t indicate that life is back to normal we are still in a pandemic. However it feels like a big step in the right direction. Hopefully soon us non-professionals will be able to take to the field once again, but for now its non-contact training in small groups.
What am I looking forward to now?
Now rugby is back its made me want to be on the pitch even more, I don’t know which part of the game I’m looking forward to most. Is it for that first carry or the opportunity to get one up on my opposite number at scrum time? Or is it the rush after propelling an attack on our try line? Could it be something as simple as the moment shared with the team before the game when all the preparation is done and we’re about to battle for each other? I don’t know which of these it will be but it can’t come soon enough.