Empty grounds? You'd be surprised by the chatter

MY first thought about playing two instalments of the Six Nations next season, with the earlier one replacing the October/November Autumn series window, is that the overriding consideration should not be about money, but whether it is safe to play.

- Jeremy Guscott

Who knows at this time what the right thing to do will be six months from now?

What we do know is that the logistics for full stadiums to come back is a huge decision, although the urgency to fill the October/November international window will also be pressing because of the potential loss of income to national unions.

This could mean that whatever games are played will be behind closed doors – although it seems unlikely that the southern hemisphere teams will come to Europe to play televised matches in empty stadiums.

However, the bulk of the revenue that underpins all Rugby Union is television money, so the desire to get matches on for the armchair audience, even if there is no live crowd, will be very strong.

The atmosphere will be surreal, because if you take the crowds away it is hard to imagine that there will be any home advantage.

There’s even talk of staging games at a couple of locations, possibly Twickenham and the Ricoh Stadium to lessen interruption and help social distancing among the general public.

As an international player you train in front of empty stadiums like Twickenham, and I’ve taken part in captain’s runs in most international rugby stadiums across the world. It’s weird when you hear the thud of the ball as it hits the empty stand, or when you can clearly hear the scrum-half ’s call or the line-out code when you know it will be drowned out by the roar of the crowd 24 hours later.