WATCH | CJ Stander practices with sheep, turning farm into training ground
Rugby NewsWednesday, 08 April 2020 at 07:41
Ireland international CJ Stander has turned his family farm back in South Africa into a training round.
The 30-year-old, who has been living in Ireland since 2012 where he had been based with PRO14 side Munster, made it back to South African in time for the country's 21-day lockdown period in efforts to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
LIST | Jamie Roberts and five other rugby stars working in hospitals during crisis
Here are five rugby players who are doing their bit on the frontline of the fight against the Coronavirus.
1. Jamie Roberts (Doctor)
The Wales international, who is a qualified Doctor, has volunteered his services and is now working for the Cardiff and Vale Health board after flying home from South Africa. He will operate as a clinical innovation fellow – a role which will see him working in Cardiff in a motivational and communications capacity.
2. Maxime Mbanda (Ambulance driver)
The Italy back-rower has become an emergency ambulance driver as the coronavirus outbreak continues to heavily hit the country. In an AFP interview published on rugbyrama.fr, the 20-cap international explained why he went out on the front line to help with his country in lockdown.
“When everything was cancelled with rugby, I wondered how I could help even without medical skills,” he said.
“I found the Yellow Cross, which had a transport service for medicines and food for the elderly.”
3. Elisha Whelan (Doctor)
The 24-year-old Worcester Warriors star is in her final year of a Medicine and Surgery MBChB at the University of Birmingham and will be one of more than 5,000 medical students dispatched to hospitals and surgeries across the country.
4. Lydia Thompson (Occupational therapists)
Both Thompson and her husband Tom are qualified occupational therapists and have contacted the NHS about heading to the frontline of the outbreak.
"I have been supported by the RFU [Rugby Football Union] to go back, so I have also applied," said Thompson.
"Me and my husband have only had great experiences of working in the NHS. We've kept in touch with our former colleagues and we're just so impressed and inspired by how hard they're working, how they're adapting and how people are changing to adapt to their new job roles. It's really important and we want to support them."
5. Claire McLaughlin (Doctor)
Ireland women's rugby international Claire McLaughlin is among the hospital doctors battling against the coronavirus outbreak.
"It is worrying in that we don’t know how bad it’s going to get or when it’s going to get to that point," said the 16-times capped rugby international, who is a junior doctor at the Ulster Hospital's A&E Department.
"But we’re all in this together. Doctors, nurses and all the other health care professionals."
6. Petrus du Plessis (Respiratory Physiotherapist)
The Saracens legend has revealed he has registered to go back to the NHS as a respiratory physiotherapist.
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- Jordie Barrett over Damian de Allende is far from being correct. The hype around Dupont is also overreaching, he's probably 4th in the world and has been since the 2023 WC. He also avoids certain matchups which is strange. The rest of the list is pretty good apart from minor subjective biases.JasonMarlow16-09-2026
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