THESE are unprecedented times for everyone and at the Dragons we have resorted to training alone, not knowing when we will all be back together in the same room let alone putting our boots on to play.

Things are changing daily and rugby players, like everyone else, are having to come to terms with uncertainty.

Coronavirus has led to the Guinness PRO14 being suspended, our European Challenge Cup quarter-final against Bristol being postponed and our usual routine being ripped up.

At the start of the week we were planning for a Monday-Wednesday-Friday training schedule but now we are all working in isolation.

I've only played five games this season and had only just come back from a bicep injury, so I am personally devastated about the timing but outside of the sporting world things are more concerning.

We turned up at our Ystrad Mynach training base on Monday to be greeted by the medical department, who rather than strapping up injured ankles were operating as quarantine officers.

Outside our temperatures were taken with thermometers, from that we washed our hands and then used gels before we completed some online monitoring.

Then it was outside for a briefing in our posh inflatable tent, which was bought last summer to allow handling skills in the dry but was now the venue for a meeting in the fresh air.

There were three plans put before us with the first assuming the Bristol quarter-final was going ahead. Within a few hours we'd moved into the second plan.

South Wales Argus:

We're now in a period of self-isolation and we can't use public gyms, which is quite a conundrum for professional rugby players.

We have to stay fit but not all of us are fortunate enough to have a gymnasium in our house like Richard Hibbard!

I've used the Parkway before and even though it's a typical hotel mini gym it's possible to have some good sessions, working up quite a sweat with the right exercises and a bit of intensity.

The Dragons have had a link-up with DW Fitness previously for yoga and swimming but even that's out of the question, leaving us with a problem for the next few weeks.

Our programme does feature external running sessions in our local surroundings but I've not done that for about 13 years since pulling my calf when not selected.

I had to explain to then boss Paul Turner that I'd suffered the injury doing extras and his response was an eyebrow raise and that I shouldn't need to do that sort of exercise in my own time.

I missed two big games as a result and learned a lesson that day but now we have GPS tracking in training with strength and conditioning coach Ryan Harris keeping an eye on the volume and intensity of our running.

This is one method to be able to monitor the workload that we will be doing remotely - sending in screen shots of the exercise via the technology of watches and apps.

The idea when we are in training normally is that we shouldn't need to get additional volume into our routine away from Ystrad Mynach, avoiding injuries like the one I suffered pounding the pavement when I was an up-and-coming back row forward.

That's all gone out the window because of coronavirus and now I'm planning on doing hill sprints in Belle Vue Park and a few laps of Cwmbran Boating Lake.

It's a challenge because fitness levels can drop off quickly.

I've got memories of my sports science days at UWIC when we learnt about reverting back to your natural state after three weeks of nothing, which can then take two or three months to get back to where you were previously.

I suppose the only consolation is that everybody in the PRO14 is in the same boat.

Nobody will improve their conditioning using tins of beans for weights and doing press-ups and air squats; the main aim is just to maintain fitness.

For 'the elders' such as myself, Brok Harris and Aaron Jarvis, the prospect of another 25-week pre-season is not an attractive one. Hopefully there will be some rugby before next autumn but we are all playing a waiting game.

The idea of at least playing the remaining Welsh derbies down the line is a good one. Players would have something to train for, coaches could keep progress going and the public would have something to talk about besides coronavirus.

These are tough times for the boys who are out of contract and after being in a horrible position last year when in limbo, feeling like I was in a deep hole with politics getting involved, I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy.

These are testing times for all of us and hopefully we will get back towards some kind of normality in the coming weeks and months.