Saints boss Boyd embracing mid-season squad changes

And that is certainly the case in rugby, with players, coaches, fans and everyone else having to adapt to strange situations.

One of them is that the 2019/20 campaign, which was halted in March due to the Covid-19 pandemic, will now be played out with the 2020/21 squads.

At Saints, there will be no Cobus Reinach, Ben Franks and Mitch Eadie.

Instead, there will be Tom James, Nick Auterac and Shaun Adendorff.

There are still nine games of the Gallagher Premiership regular-season to go, and some players are being parachuted straight into a title fight.

It’s something that feels bizarre but not something that fazes them or their boss, Chris Boyd.

“Everything about the world in the past six months has been strange so you just accept what it is and get on with it,” Boyd said, in typically laid-back fashion.

“It is a little bit bizarre that we finish this season with no Cobus, no Ben Franks, no Andrew Symons and the list goes on.

“But on the flip side of that, we’ve picked up some different guys.

“It’s certainly unusual but if you looked at the options the league had, there weren’t many other options.

“Those contracts that traditionally finish at the end of June were honoured, people came and went and everyone just wants to get on and play some code again.”

Saints returned to Stage 1 training on June 15 but they have now progressed to Stage 2, meaning close contact work is allowed.

And when asked how it has been going, Boyd said: “It’s been interesting.

“When we first started it was a bit of a novelty and we did a lot of personal development.

“It became a bit of a chore and everyone’s been really pleased to be able to get back in and reconnect again.

“Part of the attraction for people who play team sport is the social cohesion so everyone’s been pleased to get back, albeit in a socially-restricted environment.

“We’re generally social people so when you see someone you haven’t seen for a while, you sit there and you’re not quite sure whether you should give them a fist bump or an elbow or a wave from two metres.

“The natural inclination is to go in and shake their hand or pat their back - it’s just how it is.

“The hardest thing for the boys when we’re doing training and trying to keep it socially-distanced is when we stop to have a water break or a hand cleanse, it’s very easy for them to gravitate back to being closer than what they should be just because it’s what they’re used to.

“There’s been discipline around that and I take my hat off to the boys.

“Certainly from a running perspective, we’re fitter than we’ve ever been.

“Guys have had a luxury of having a long period of time where they haven’t had to take a lot of physical contact so they’re in pretty good physical and mental shape.”