Players of all ages are now back in training at Exmouth Rugby Club and participation levels have gone through the roof.
As well as a vibrant adult side to the club, junior players are clearly loving the return to regular sport.
“Things have been going really well since the restart,” said club chairman Ian Harris. “Our seniors have returned to training and we’ve been getting an average of 40 players in each session, and not always the same 40.
“There are a few new faces, which is great for the club, so seniors going well and our juniors have returned in fantastic numbers.
“We have spread training across the week for different age groups to ensure regulations are met and we are really encouraged to see so many youngsters in training.
“We’ve had several enquiries for the Under-5s, 6s and 7s, which is amazing, and the enthusiasm from our coaches has been put to keeping up their knowledge and skills.
“They’re all volunteers and the skills of the young players don’t seem to have dampened at all.”
The next stage for rugby enthusiasts is to play games and Exmouth are putting together a summer schedule that will involve fixtures for the juniors.
“Officially, the season comes to an end in May but the RFU have put in place an extended summer period,” added Harris.
“We’ve moved to a different stage on the RFU community rugby roadmap, which means teams can now play contact rugby with amended rules.
“There are still no scrums or rucks, but our junior teams are ready to restart playing fixtures. There will be some kind of rugby provision for the junior section across the summer.
“We expect to see rugby activity in May and June, a short break in July, and then back to pre-season training for next season.
“Fixture lists for the seniors should be out in the next few weeks and we normally start the season in September, so proper pre-season will probably start in early July, ramping things up through August.”