THEIR full quotient of players might not be available right now but last week's opening practice session for those CSU Mitchell Rugby players currently in Bathurst was a moment worth celebrating.
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The defending New Holland Agriculture Cup champions, along with their available reserve grade and women's squads, greatly enjoyed their return to training last week.
Numbers at practice may have been limited thanks to both coronavirus restrictions and students still living away from campus although club vice-president Daniel Adamson said it was a positive step worth savouring.
"We're under strict guidelines set by both the university and Rugby Australia. We're training in groups of 10, with three coaches, which restricts things a bit ... but training still went really well," he said.
"There's no contact, only light ball work and there's a disinfectant station we've got set up as we go into the ground. I've never seen rugby training like this before, but things are looking alright.
"It's good that we can be training two months before the proposed start of the season. That's how much pre-season we normally get at CSU anyway due to the fact that we're a uni so we're really happy with the way things are going."
It might be a while until the club can get stuck back into fully fledged training - even if restrictions were to ease further.
Adamson said a lot will depend on how quickly students are able to return to campus.
"We're still waiting on whatever the university says in regards to whether learning continues online or whether they welcome students back on campus," he said.
"We won't know our definite numbers until then."
It's still a far more glowing position for the university compared to just over a month ago, when club members weren't sure whether they'd be able to field teams across the New Holland competitions.
However, the country's adept response to coronavirus restrictions has quickly made put CSU back into the Central West Rugby Union fold for 2020.
During the time away from the field CSU did their best to bolster club morale, and Adamson said they found great opportunities to do so.
"We've still being staying quite connected as a club in various ways. We've been taking part in a blood donation which several Central West clubs have come on board with, like Bathurst Bulldogs and Orange Emus," he said.
"We've also started an in-club running competition. Whoever runs the most kilometres by the end of the month will win a jersey. It's a good little initiative which pretty much everyone has signed up for.
"It's the little things like that which we've tried to get going to help pump the club up a bit."
CSU will be eager to get stuck into the New Holland Agriculture Cup season following their stunning win over Narromine Gorillas in the 2019 first grade grand final.