Sam Moore believes lockdown has been a blessing in disguise as he returns home to kick-off a career with Cardiff Blues.
When the number eight arrived at the Arms Park in February, he was still recovering from surgery following a knee dislocation.
He was eying both his injury comeback and Cardiff Blues debut when the Covid-19 pandemic truly struck and lockdown came into force but now believes that extra time will do him the world of good.
He said: “Lockdown was a bit of a blessing in disguise for me really because it enabled me to get my knee right after surgery in December.
“I still had six weeks left of rehab on my injury when I joined. When lockdown hit I was only a week or two away from actually playing again. But the lockdown gave me more time to get ready.
“Even though I went up north to see family for a couple of months I kept in constant contact with the physio about my knee.
“For the past four or five weeks in training it has been fine and I haven’t really had any issues since February.”
Moore, who is of course the son of former Cardiff and Wales second-row Steve, was born in the Welsh capital and spent the first seven years here.
He made the move north when his father joined Orell, following a stint in Narbonne, and initially excelled at football and was on the books of Everton.
Educated at Sedbergh, who have produced the likes of Tom Francis, Will Carling, Will Greenwood and regional teammate James Botham, Moore soon took to rugby and represented England at Under-16, 17, 18 and 19 level.
He came through the Sale Sharks pathway and in 2018, was even called into England’s Six Nations squad, with Eddie Jones drawing comparisons to New Zealand captain Kieran Read.
Moore continued: “The transition of ‘coming home’ to Cardiff has been fine because I’ve got some family over here. I still remember some of the city from when I was younger.
“I lived in Cardiff until I was around seven years old. Then we went up north. I was into football until I was about 12, so I didn’t get into rugby until later on.
“I progressed quite quickly with the England national age groups and Sale Sharks.
“There were loads of Sedbergh boys who all came to Sale with me at the same time. In my last year at Sale I actually roomed with the Curry twins in their house. That was really interesting and gave me an insight into their professional outlook.
“When Eddie Jones called me into the England squad I was only there for a few training days.
“I went in there with Gabriel Ibitoje and Marcus Smith on a weekend off for the England side in the Six Nations. It was all about giving us an insight into what it was like in the senior England camp. It was tough, but it was good.
“It's about taking the opportunities you're given. You have to grab it when it comes along and take it with both hands.
“My family has put no pressure on me to decide which route to go down. It just fell into place for me with the Blues because they gave me an offer I really couldn't refuse.
“Now I've just got to get as much out of this as I can and really push on.
“I'm living in Llandaff, only 10 minutes' away from training, and 15 minutes from the Arms Park. My uncle Andy is only 50 minutes down the road in Swansea and my dad recently moved down to Cardiff.”
Now, following in his father’s footsteps at the Arms Park, Moore has high hopes for the future and has been impressed by the amount of talent within John Mulvihill’s squad.
He has been earmarked as the long-term successor to Nick Williams, who confirmed his retirement at the beginning of the month leaving big boots to fill, and is now relishing the challenge ahead.
That all begins next week when Guinness PRO14 rugby returns for a condensed season finale next week.
The Blues travel to face the Scarlets on August 22, before hosting the Ospreys at Rodney Parade on August 30, with the Arms Park still supporting the Dragon’s Heart Hospital.
Moore continued: “There are a lot of good young lads coming through at Cardiff Blues. It is always healthy for players to have that challenge to help them push on and improve individually and collectively.
“I prefer playing at No8 rather than six because it gives me more licence to get my hands on the ball. I’m certainly setting my sights on filling the gap left by Nick Williams’ retirement, but taking nothing for granted.
“I want to get some game time to show what I’m all about. We’ve been training as two big squads, so nobody really knows what the crack is until the squad is announced on Monday or Tuesday.
“Everyone is raring to go because we’ve been out of action for so long. We are all eager to get at it.
“These two games will be really good in trying to get the cobwebs out after the last few months of not playing. It'll be about getting some structures in place for the lads. If the season starts in October, I'll just look to get as much game time as possible to try to prove what I can do on the pitch.”