• As rugby returns to training, players are arriving back at their franchises with varying levels of anxiety surrounding the coronavirus.
• How they behave outside of the team environment is as important as how they behave inside, say medical experts.
• At this stage, training is limited to groups of no more than five and no contact is allowed.

Rugby, after a long wait for government approval, returned on Monday, with players reporting for duty at their franchise headquarters. 

Players can only train in groups of no more than five at a time and there is still no taking of contact allowed, but South Africa's best players have at least returned to the field and the journey towards match fitness and a possible return to play in September in the form of domestic competition has now begun. 

Throughout the lockdown period, players have had to find their own ways of staying fit and in shape, which is obviously easier for those who live in houses than in apartments or complexes given space constraints. 

It means players arrive back at their clubs in different physical states, and there is a strong emphasis on cardio work and core strength conditioning in these early days of rugby's return. 

At every franchise, strict protocols need to be adhered to in an effort to ensure player safety and those include regular screening, sanitising and testing. 

What is more difficult to measure, however, is the mental state the players arrive in. 

As is the case throughout the country, people have reacted to the threats of the coronavirus differently, and that is often based around the levels of fear or anxiety in potentially being exposed to the virus. 

When Cricket South Africa (CSA) announced a return to training ahead of this past weekend's Solidarity Cup, no players were pressured into leaving their isolated environments to take part due to the one-off match being an exhibition event in aid of charity. 

For the country's professional rugby players, though, this week has effectively represented a return to work and while all players naturally want to return to action, their franchises have had to be sensitive in acknowledging it could be daunting for some given the current climate. 

"We have a huge group of personalities within the playing group and within the staff group," Stormers team doctor Jason Suter said, speaking on how the team had experienced the first few days of training at their High Performance Centre (HPC) in Bellville. 

"We have found that we have introverts and extroverts and those that want to engage and those that don't want to engage in socialising. Each of them definitely has a different stress level when it comes to returning to work or socialisation.

"With those that are very concerned or have family members that are maybe at higher risk for Covid, they have very real fears in terms of them getting infected and possibly passing it onto a loved one.

"We've tried to accommodate those players and limit their interaction as much as we can and their requirements in terms of coming into a team environment."

Suter added it was important for the players to understand their behaviour outside of the "work" environment was as important as what they did at training. 

"Your job is your job and you may be exposed to Covid, but that is how you are employed," he said.

"That risk, you have to take. It's the same as going out to buy essential groceries … you may be exposed, but it's something you have to do.

"We want them to keep away from all other social interactions outside of the HPC.

"Within the HPC, those people that really miss the camaraderie and the hand-shaking, it's to try and moderate that and explain to them which behaviours are acceptable and which aren't in respecting those around them.

"We've tried to manage it and accommodate those who have higher fears and also pull back those who believe they are bulletproof."

Proteas team doctor Shuaib Manjra, meanwhile, acknowledged the importance of educating the players on the responsibility they have to act within the laws.

"It's a challenging thing that arises when elite sportsmen, who are accustomed to training and working outdoors, are then suddenly cooped up in apartments or housing," he said. 

"We had to tell our players that while we could be prepared inside the sanitised team environment, unless people are responsible in their own spaces, it is not going to work.

"Their personal responsibilities supercede any other measures you can take."