The rugby season finally finished last weekend following the completion of the summer tours.
But even before Wales finished their trip to South Africa, the club sides were already back in for pre-season training at home. It really does feel like the seasons never end these days.
And it's about to get even tougher as the best players prepare for a relentless 12 months that will culminate in the Rugby World Cup in France next autumn.
READ NEXT: Warren Gatland names Lions team he'd pick today as he admits Josh Adams mistake
There is a lot of water to pass under the bridge between now and then and it starts towards the end of next month. As pre-season schedules go, Welsh clubs have set up a pretty mouth-watering set of fixtures, with a real Anglo-Welsh flavour to them.
Bristol (twice), Wasps and Northampton will all be coming to play games in Wales, with Cardiff popping over the border to take on Gloucester.
Northampton will be taking on the Ospreys in Bridgend on September 2, which is being coined the Dan Biggar derby, but it remains to be seen whether the man himself will actually feature in the match. With the Gallagher Premiership getting underway a week later, he may well do. The same goes for Louis Rees-Zammit for Cardiff's trip to Kingsholm.
Likewise, you'd expect Callum Sheedy and Ioan Lloyd to feature for Bristol when they head to Llanelli a week before their season gets started.
Here are the pre-season fixtures that have been pencilled in before the next instalment of the United Rugby Championship kicks off in mid-September:
Hartpury v Ospreys, August 20, 2pm
Dragons v Bristol, August 26, 7pm
Dragons v Wasps, September 2, 7pm
Ospreys v Northampton, September 2, 7pm
Scarlets v Bristol, September 2, 7pm
Gloucester v Cardiff, September 2, 7:45pm
Cardiff v Zebre, September 9, TBC
Scarlets v Dragons, September 9, TBC
READ NEXT...
- Wales' new pecking order as stars put their hands up for World Cup spots
- Red cards, yellow cards, citings and confusion - rugby on a precipice after summer controversies
- How Rugby World Cup is expected to finish as two of world's top four can't make semi-finals
- Wales' best team going forward and the forgotten man who could blow World Cup selection apart
- The REAL world rugby power rankings with New Zealand in crisis and exactly where Wales stand
