Boss Dean Ryan admits the overwhelming feeling as rugby restarts this weekend is one of relief – and now he wants his Dragons to face a new set of challenges head-on as the Guinness PRO14 returns.
Dragons make the trip to the Liberty Stadium on Sunday afternoon (kick-off 2.15pm) to face regional rivals the Ospreys.
Ryan is looking forward to seeing his team back in action after months without any games due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
But the Director of Dragons Rugby believes the players will now face new challenges as they look to get up to speed and adapt to strange surroundings with games played behind closed doors.
“It’s ultimately a relief to be starting up again,” said Ryan. “We spent a long period, if you go back to the early days when we came back to training, with no guarantees about when the start was.
“Running the same session eight times with groups of six wasn’t much fun.
“In the last couple of weeks we have got to the stage when sessions resemble more of what we are used to and therefore the intensity is more practicable.
“Everyone now just wants to play. It has been a really strange time and Sunday will be a different and new challenge as well.
“We will all have watched the English Premiership and empty stadiums. We have got to go through a new experience and keep developing ourselves.
“We’ve had a lot thrown at us the last four or five months,” he added. “Relief is the main feeling. Let’s get out on the field, let’s see where we are.
“We have integrated some new players and hopefully over the coming weeks we will get sight of those.
“We’ve also got a quarter-final down the road so how we approach these games as a stepping-stone towards that is also crucial.”
Everyone now just wants to play. It has been a really strange time and Sunday will be a different and new challenge as well...
