When rugby ground to a halt in March as lockdown set in, it was an interesting time for Stuart McCloskey on and off the pitch.
The Ulster centre had been a late addition to Six Nations squad in January, having been overlooked initially by Andy Farrell.
Involvement with the Irish squad meant he would miss the birth of his child. But with the coronavirus pandemic pausing the competition with two matches still to play, the following five months of lockdown have allowed the player to embrace fatherhood uninterrupted.
"I had at that stage a two month old baby so I was pretty hands full with that. It seemed to fly by for me," he told RTÉ Sport's Damien O'Meara as Ulster prepare for their first game back against Connacht this Sunday at the Aviva Stadium in the Guinness Pro14.
"I actually missed the birth when I was away with the Ireland squad in Portugal. I didn't get back in time so it was nice to make up for that for the next four or five months. It's probably time I never would have got if this hadn't happened."
Ulster form over the next few weeks in the Heineken Champions Cup and the Pro14 could well help McCloskey stay firmly on Ireland head coach Farrell's radar, after the Six Nations interruption.
"It probably wasn't the best time in terms of getting a game for Ireland for me," he said of the timing of the lockdown in March, which came before fixtures against Italy and France which have been rescheduled for late October.
"But you've just got to adapt. I used it to work my fitness. If it I'd have picked a time for us to stop, it wouldn't have been then. I felt I was in a pretty good place but hopefully I'll still be in the same place when we get back to play my way into contention again."
McCloskey and his team-mates will have to adapt to the novelty of an empty Aviva Stadium on Sunday and his Ireland and Ulster colleague Jack McGrath says the team have been looking to become accustomed to that aspect of the fixture.
"We've been training in the Kingspan a bit and trying to replicate as much as we can," said McGrath.
"For us, it's about bringing our own energy and not worrying about too much around us."
Similarly to McCloskey, home comforts were a haven for McGrath over the past five months as lockdown allowed him time to spend around his family that would not ordinarily have been possible during a typically busy season.
"It was good to be at home for a length of time where I wouldn't normally have been," said the former Leinster prop.
"I spent some time with the family and just had a bit of time to reflect on things. It was enjoyable but happy to be back at it now."
Follow Leinster v Munster (7.35pm, Saturday) and Connacht v Ulster (4.30pm, Sunday) via our live blogs on RTÉ.ie/sport and the News Now app, or listen to live commentary on RTÉ Radio 1
