Heineken Champions Cup: Scarlets go from suitcase weights to facing France's finest

Scarlets have not played a competitive match since 22 October when they beat Benetton

It has been quite a couple of weeks for Scarlets. As they prepare to begin - belatedly - their Heineken Champions Cup campaign against Bordeaux Bègles, quarantine diaries have started to emerge.

Scarlets arrived in South Africa on Wednesday, 24 November only for UK health secretary Sajid Javid to announce a day later the country was going on the red list because of Covid-19 concerns.

Games against Sharks and Bulls were postponed. They were the least of the Scarlets' concerns as they initially scrambled to get back before the quarantining deadline.

When they did not make it, uncertainty kicked in.

"I can only speak for myself but the toughest part was when we were out in SA," said backs coach Dai Flanagan.

"We trained on the Thursday afternoon, got back to the hotel around five, showered, changed, had a team meal, and then suddenly all the news broke.

"From that Thursday night to Sunday - three days felt about three months. There were meetings going on we weren't included in, there was info breaking in the press.

"We were close to the other travelling parties like Cardiff, and they were having info, we were having info, and some of it wasn't aligning."

After negative PCR tests, Scarlets were eventually allowed to leave South Africa on a charter plane, while Cardiff had positive cases in their camp so had to stay behind.

Scarlets could not come home to isolate because there are no quarantine hotels in Wales, and they could not fly to a London airport because of UK government restrictions.

The 47-strong party flew to Dublin before being transferred to just outside Belfast to start their 10-day isolation in an Antrim hotel.

Scarlets trained in Durban after arriving in South Africa

"From a family perspective when we got back to the UK, it was a big relief," added Flanagan.

"When you are home in the UK, you could see the relaxation in the conversation. You know you are going to getting home."

Attention turned to how to keep 32 professional players occupied as they spent 23-and-a-half hours each day in their rooms.

"We had some excellent speakers talk to us, guys who have been through a lot of tough times as well, and also some real achievers," said Flanagan.

"We have been connected all the way through, we have all been in the same place, meeting on Zoom."

Wales hooker Ryan Elias believes the experience has brought the squad together.

"It does feel we're a bit tighter from it because we've gone through a couple of weeks that weren't ideal," he said.

"We haven't been with each other in person but there's been a lot of chat in the WhatsApp groups and boys FaceTiming each other just checking in, seeing how everyone is getting on."

Another challenge was how to keep the squad physically active with no gym equipment available.

Conditioning programmes were issued, while former Wales centre Alecs Donovan gave virtual daily yoga sessions. Making the most of the permitted 30 minutes outside exercise a day was imperative.

"We were allowed out in groups of three," explained Elias.

"We'd have a stretch first thing in the morning. My group was at eight o'clock. I'd get up at half seven, have a quick coffee, do a couple of leg swings, and get out into the car park to do some running.

"It isn't ideal, but at the same time I could still get two-and-a-half to three kilometres of running in."

Elias was also resourceful when he was "locked up".

"I was training every day in the room," he added.

"You had to think outside the box. I was loading my big suitcase up with clothes and water bottles to make it as heavy as I could.

"Because there were two handles on it, I put it on like a rucksack and all of a sudden I could do weighted press ups which does your chest.

"You couldn't squat, but you could do a leg-up on your bed, split squats, and it was a good weight for that side of things.

"My body was actually a bit sore on a few days because I wasn't used to doing some things.

"We also got sent big bands and you could attach that to maybe a handle in the room and you could do a fair few things with that.

"There were weird things like having your feet up against the wall, doing a handstand and doing a shoulder press I guess.

"That was a bit weird. I thought my shoulders were going to cave in when I tried that. I gave it the one go and stopped."

The squad eventually came out of isolation the day before they were supposed to play their European opener at Bristol.

That match was forfeited - Bristol were awarded a 28-0 victory - with Scarlets players deemed unable to play.

"The game is different now, you look at some of the high speeds, especially our backs, run," said Flanagan.

"We have got some of the finest, finely-tuned athletes in the world who test their body to the max on one sprint.

"We would have been asking them to do that for 80 minutes without any preparation. That's unfair on them."

It has, at last, been back to Parc y Scarlets this week for training and the little matter of preparing to face the French champions, who will be looking to atone for a home defeat to Leicester.

"The biggest thing everyone has pushed is that there are no excuses, this is an opportunity," added Flanagan.

"Bordeaux won't care we have been in isolation, they are coming to play a rugby game. They are a fantastic team with quality all over their side.

"We need to nail our plan this week to make sure we are firing on Sunday.

"We need to make sure we are ready physically, game plan-wise, we can't overthink that. We have just got to play free, and that excites players, especially in this part of the world."

One of those players agrees.

"It's like: 'Look, let's get stuck in' - a siege mentality," said Elias.

"I'm looking forward to the challenge. They're big boys and they can play.

"It's going to be a tricky game but at the same time, we're excited. It's about not thinking too much and just committing."