Hurricanes captain Dane Coles has revealed his team's trepidation over travelling to Dunedin to face the Highlanders, amid COVID-19 restrictions
Coles admits to some anxiety among his side and no-one will be forced to play, if their final match of Super Rugby Aotearoa can go ahead.
NZ Rugby will await further guidance from the Government, before making a call on whether this weekend's games are played, but the Hurricanes have taken matters into their own hands.
"There's probably a little bit of anxiety, I suppose, but if someone doesn't feel comfortable, then we'll give them that respect and they can stay home with their family," Coles says.
But simply being able to train is not a luxury afforded to the Blues, with Auckland at Alert Level 3.
Their Alexandra Park base was left desolate, as players returned to training from home. If this weekend's games can somehow proceed, the Blues would've trained just once, with other teams as much as twice.
But Coles is confident player welfare wouldn't be compromised, should Auckland emerge from Level 3.
"It's not like they're just flipping a coin behind closed doors and deciding. I know there's a lot of meetings and processes they have to go through to think about player welfare."
But players have made no secret of the brutal toll Super Rugby Aotearoa has taken on them and that load will get no lighter, if teams have to play on the back of only one or two training sessions.
But training or not, the COVID-19 threat is going nowhere and sides won't be tempting fate if that threat worsens.
"If there's any risk, then the boys won't be going," says Coles.
"We're not sitting there going 'you have to play' - it's completely up to the individual."
The Hurricanes and the rest of New Zealand will know tomorrow, whether the Government's made that decision for them.
Join us for live updates of the Highlanders v Hurricanes Super Rugby Aotearoa clash from 7:05pm Saturday
