[ad_1]
Joe Marchant says that he and his Auckland Blues teammates receive no special treatment as New Zealand’s elite rugby teams prepare to return to action next month.
The New Zealand Super Rugby teams will play a closed-door miniseries starting June 13.
“Everything they have done has complied with government rules, there has been nothing different because we play rugby,” he told the BBC Rugby Union Weekly podcast.
Marchant, who won three games for England in the run-up to last year’s Rugby World Cup but failed to make it to the final team, is on loan at Harlequins in Auckland.
New Zealand will become the first major rugby nation to return to action, after limiting the number of coronavirus cases to less than 1,500 and suffering only 21 deaths after infection.
Rugby’s return to the northern hemisphere is further with Pro14 teams working toward a restart in late August and the Premiership Rugby looking for the best scenario for a restart in early July.
The 23-year-old Marchant believes that three weeks of training together should be enough for New Zealand teams to start playing again as the players have followed their own schedules during their breakup time.
“Starting next week we will train together again,” he said.
“They gave us a load of equipment, I got a bench and a load of weights, speed sleds and there have been no prohibitions on the number of times you can go out like you’ve been home, so we’ve been able to train a lot for three weeks we will go pretty hard and we’ll play after that.
“The most difficult thing will be that there are not many people in the games, so our families will not be able to go, which, for the games at home, will be a little strange.”
Marchant moved to Auckland in January and has scored three tries in six appearances so far for a Blues team that also includes players like All Blacks Beauden Barrett and Rieko Ioane on his team.
“Everybody goes around here, the play is much weaker, even in training there are shocks all the time,” he said as he reflected on his time in Super Rugby.
“There is a lot of emphasis on keeping the ball alive. There was a 10 minute period in a preseason game, one of the first here when the ball was constantly in play. Honestly, I almost died. It was fun, but I was running a lot.
“I think the defense in England is better, much stronger, but I think it’s about the size of the guys and the speed of the game.”
“I was hoping I could come here and bring defense as a big part of my game, but I just can’t get ready quickly. I’m trying to get back on the court. The ball is gone. My tackle stats have dropped a lot and it’s much more difficult result. “
Marchant says that while big-name Blues stars were a big draw to moving to New Zealand, he’s also been impressed by the depth of quality wing and name verification Mark Telea: “I’ve never seen anyone hit so many people.” – As one to watch.
With Manu Tuilagi, Henry Slade and Jonathan Joseph vying for center positions and captain Owen Farrell also deployed in midfield at times, Marchant must fight his way through a quality logjam to claim a starting position in England.
He says his move to the southern hemisphere was approved by England’s Australian head coach Eddie Jones.
“We only had a brief real conversation, but he was very supportive. He thought it would be a good idea, that the experience of playing on the other side of the world and that kind of rugby would be really good, “said Marchant.
Marchant will return to Harlequins on July 1 and, under current restrictions, will spend 14 days in quarantine upon arrival before another block of intensive training.
“It will be my third preseason after the mini here. I have done more training runs than ever,” he added.
