CHINNOR’S players have got back to work together for the first time since March.

The National League 1 side’s senior squad were put through their paces at Kingsey Road in groups of up to six.

It came after fresh advice from the Rugby Football Union, whose roadmap back to competitive action permits some socially-distanced training.

Daz Oliver and Matty Mountford, the newly-installed head of strength and conditioning and team manager respectively, led the session.

Oliver said: “We basically got the guys moving.

“We had a bit of SAQ (speed, agility and quickness) with Matty.

“We also did a bit of barbell complex stuff to get them chucking a bit of weight around again and got them doing some run aways.

“It was literally about getting some volume in their legs because a lot of the lads haven’t done anything for a long time, so we’re trying to get them ready for when pre-season starts properly.

“Everything is being done in maximum groups of six, with two-metre gaps, hand sanitisers, gloves – the works – so we’re all sorted.”

Chinnor are hoping to begin pre-season training on July 2 and Richard Thorpe, another new appointment as director of rugby, was pleased to see the players back, despite the limitations.

He said: “It’s fantastic.

“We’re still living in unprecedented times right now.

“We’ve got absolutely no idea when we’re going to be able to return to playing, but there are things we can focus on and control.

“We’ve put so much work into the clubhouse over the past six weeks to make sure that by the time we’re actually fully back here as a squad preparing for our first game, we’ve got an outstanding environment for the players to step in to.

“We’re now able to get some conditioning through their bodies and start to manage their training loads in order to ensure that when we’re able to get back to playing, we’re going to be ready.”