It was a year when Amazon delivered our international rugby, and for once they didn’t just leave it behind the wheelie bin and put a card through the letter box. 

We should be eternally grateful that Yodel didn’t get the contract, otherwise England v Wales could have ended up in a neighbour’s porch, or half way up your silver birch.

Rugby limped through 2020 like an aged prop with a dodgy hamstring and a massive hangover, and whilst Wimbledon had been cancelled due to covid, the Autumn Nations Cup provided us with kicking rallies that Rafa and Roger would have been proud of.

Thank goodness for the dear old French, who not only found their mojo but stole everyone  else’s as well, Dupont and Ntamack proving to be one of the best partnerships since Prince Andrew and Pizza Express.

We got used to our televised rugby sounding like an episode of “Friends” as the canned crowd noise became the norm, fortunately Andrew Cotter remained the constant despite threats of a takeover from the new commentary kids on the block Olive and Mabel.

Everyone’s mental health suffered, and is still suffering this year, to a greater or lesser degree, but rugby still provided those magical moments, as it always does, when for a split second we were transported away from the anguish and tragedy that engulfs us.

As many of us enter Tier 4, or the national equivalent, being deprived of our loved ones over Christmas has created an emotional experience that is difficult to comprehend, there is nothing in the memory bank to turn to on this occasion to help us cope.

Today  I was fortunate enough to be at the Stoop where in these dark times, the stars shone brightly. Finn Russell, Kurtley Beale Teddy Thomas and co dropped in from Paris, the city of lights and lifted the gloom for a few precious moments, and crikey, even the sun broke through.

These are tough times but let’s hope in 2021 these brighter moments will be more frequent, that crowds will replace canned noise, and that life in general will upgrade us to Amazon Prime.