There is not yet an implicit threat to Scotland’s Guinness Six Nations game against France on Sunday as a result of the coronavirus, and the squad have no option to prepare as normal, says veteran prop WP Nel.
This weekend’s Six Nations programme has already taken a hit with the postponement of the game between Ireland and Italy in Dublin, due to the cluster of injections in Northern Italy, where a significant proportion of the Italian rugby fans reside.
There has been no direction as yet from the respective governments or the Six Nations organising committee about the England-Wales game on Saturday or Scotland hosting the French at BT Murrayfield, although Scotland are following health sector advice.
“Scottish Rugby is closely monitoring the overall Coronavirus situation and its senior medical staff are in dialogue with relevant health professionals to keep abreast of the latest developments,” a Murrayfield spokesman said.
“We are also in regular contact with both the Scottish Government and the Guinness Six Nations. At this time our preparations for the forthcoming match versus France are continuing as normal”.
The SRU added they’ll be contacting supporters this week with the up-to-date government guidance ahead of the game.
In the meantime, the squad have no option but to prepare as normal until anything else happens.
“I don’t know if there’s uncertainty as such, but if there is we will probably prepare as if the game is going on, nothing changes at all,” said Nel. “They make the decision, we just need to stay focused on what we want to do on Sunday, so we can’t get side-tracked by things that we don’t have any control of.”
That involved meetings and study of the French yesterday, while the feeling after the win in Rome is part relief, part determination to move on ahead, he added.
“The W, the first win, was very important for us and it must be a stepping stone now,” said the prop. “There’s still a lot of things we can get better, it wasn’t perfect by on Saturday so there’s a lot as a group we can work on.
“We can take a little bit of confidence now we’ve got the win and to get back to back wins will be great for us.”
France have impressed Nel in their three wins thus far, and how much they’ve put a disappointing World Cup behind them.
“It’s a different France team at this moment, they’re almost back to what the French team was back in the day,” he said. “They will be up for this game, but we also know that any French team can be different away that they are home.
“We just need to be on top of our game and know what we want to do, and put the gameplan we want on top of them.”
Nel has been particularly impressed with the new input into the camp, admitting that he took a little time over whether to carry on with his international career after Japan.
“Steve’s got a different defence set up and philosophy and everyone is buying in and working hard,” he said. “I think a specialist scrum coach has definitely been lacking for a while. We did speak about it and you can see what difference Pieter de Villiers has made.
“It’s not just on the pitch, it’s behind the scenes, speaking to the ref, getting that finer detail. He can bring forward to the players what the ref wants, what we need to bring forward.”
Now clearly the back-up to Zander Fagerson when it was the other way around, nel sees himself gaining a few more caps yet.
“Zander is a young boy and a great player, so I must say that it is great that he has stepped and played well, but I will always be behind him – and he knows I am there,” he said.
“He has taken his opportunity and is doing well which is great for Scotland – so if he can build on that, and I can help him get even better, then it all helps.
“A lot of things went through my mind (after the World Cup). A lot of guys stepped down and ended their careers, and in the back of your mind there is that thought. Even when I came back and pulled my calf, I was thinking: is it time?
“But it was just a bit of a wake-up call. I still want to do it, I still want to improve, and I still want to be pushing for that No 3 jersey, so if that desire is gone then I will know that is my time – but at the moment that desire is still there to push for that No 3 jersey.”