Friday, March 6. The day Dragons were last in action as they battled Benetton at Rodney Parade. It has been 170 days since and much has changed in the world as rugby restarts.
It has been a difficult and challenging time for so many and for rugby it has been about learning a new normal as training and now matches resume.
Social distancing, smaller training groups, temperature checks, no team indoor team meetings, weekly testing. And on match days – no crowds.
Boss Dean Ryan took time to reflect this week at the region’s Ystrad Mynach training base with his Dragons ready to go into action in Swansea this afternoon (Sunday).
“We’ve been very vocal about needing lots of experiences for us to keep learning,” said the Director of Dragons Rugby, when asked about the impact of not playing.
“This season we’ve had some great experiences, some bruising experiences, but every single one was an opportunity to get better.
“We’re not a squad that gets better on six months of pre-season so there was frustrating when it was cut short.
“We know our challenges to keep getting better, giving young players opportunities, so to lose the amount of games that we lost, there was frustration initially before you put that into context with what was happening.
“We weren’t sure at first if we would be out for four, five or six weeks. Looking back, it has been a huge challenge for everybody,” he added. “It’s now about getting back and getting the wheels turning.”
Dragons will hand debuts this afternoon to summer recruits Nick Tompkins and Joe Maksymiw while fellow newcomer Jonah Holmes is waiting in the wings.
Ryan, though, insists it will take time for the new players to settle in and managing expectations is part of his job.
“We have been able to bring in additional players into areas where we felt we could do with more experience,” he said.
“Now we have to integrate them in and get them used to what we are about.
“We are looking across these two games and looking to get the combinations we want, the opportunities we need for some of our fringe players, so can we get ready for Bristol.
“On one hand who want to ensure that excitement is kept and is something that we can build on, but at the same time we just still have got to manage that expectation,” he added.
“We were a group very much last year that had a little bit of momentum, but it was still a young group, still short on experiences.
“The new arrivals will complement the development of some of our young players. The likes of Nick Tompkins, Jamie Roberts, Jonah Holmes, are very much in that capacity to stabilise.
“But we've got to integrate them well. We've got to get them part of where we are.
“It’s great and a huge relief that we can actually play some rugby. The last six months has been difficult for everybody.
“With a group that's so young, in experience terms, playing rugby is crucial to their development so we can't wait to get out in the field.
“We can't wait to start up again and we've got a quarter-final down the line as well which is something we can get really excited about too.”
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It’s great and a huge relief that we can actually play some rugby... The last six months has been difficult for everybody...
