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Wales, winners of the 2021 Six Nations Championship, know a thing or two about safe hands, good defence and the health and wellbeing of their players, all of which played a key part in this year’s coronavirus-hit competition.

What rugby fans won’t know is that they had a secret weapon on their side; GripHero, a Devon invention that protects hands and prevents the spread of coronavirus from communal touch-points.

Spotted by one of the Welsh team’s nutritionists, the dispensers – which normally protect motorists from cross-contamination at the fuel pump – provided the perfect way to prevent players from coming into contact with communal serving implements at mealtimes, on which Covid-19 could have been spread if any member of the training camp or its support team had the virus.

Dispensing one item of recyclable hand-protection at a time, GripHero provided an instant solution to what was perceived as a very real threat to team members and to the success of their campaign.

Seen as a novel solution at first, the foresight of the Welsh team came into its own when the French team was hit by coronavirus in their training camp mid-tournament, forcing their game against Scotland to be rescheduled.

That in itself led to a fitting finale to one of the most memorable tournaments in living history, with Scotland beating France, enabling the Welsh to take home the championship title.

Oli Yeo, inventor, founder and managing director of GripHero, said: “GripHero was designed to help forecourts protect motorists from contamination, foul-smelling hands and the contraction of viruses or illness from fuel pump handles.

“Using specially designed nozzle-mounted dispensers, we provide protection to motorists on each and every fuel pump, so there’s never a lack of protection at the exact point where it is needed.