The Breakdown | 'A brutal competition': Premiership clubs steeled for seven-month slog


Coaches may have scant scope to change in a season like no other, and Exeter will take some stopping

Out with the old and in with the new. It has been more of a post-season than a pre-season for most Premiership players with the 2020–21 campaign starting less than four weeks after the play-off final between Exeter and Wasps at Twickenham. And the weather is the same dull grey.

It will be a campaign unlike any other, shoehorned into seven months with no slack in the schedule. The pandemic will be in the background, frustratingly lacking an off switch, like muzak in a lift, with players and clubs waiting nervously every week for the results of tests. Another familiar feature will be empty stands with no date fixed on the return of crowds, although next month is said to be an option.

Related: Premiership's swift return should benefit Exeter and others in form

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