Heart attacks should not be dealt with the way Clive Griffiths handled his in September, 2018.

He was alone on the perimeter of a "a massive expanse of field" halfway into a run and decided to make his own way home.

Griffiths walked "a mile or two" to his flat before calling Doncaster Knights' club doctor, who told him to get to hospital as quickly as possible.

In the meantime he passed dog-walkers and others out strolling while gradually making his way to sanctuary.

"The last bit, which spooked me, was uphill a bit - I always finish on the hill. So I took it step by step and there were people looking at me and they must have been thinking 'what's wrong with him?'," said former dual-code international and coach Griffiths, who was in charge of Wales' defence during their 2005 Grand Slam.

"To this day the doctor says I was stupid so yes, I should have said something to somebody and that blue light would have come across the field and accelerated the time it took to get into hospital."

Griffiths, 65, is not making the same mistake amid the coronavirus outbreak.

He is self-isolating to avoid any complications that could arise in a collision between the post-heart-attack medicine he takes and coronavirus.

"It's a small price to pay for long-term health," added Griffiths, whose eight-year stint as Knights coach has come to an amicable, if unceremonious end because of the shutdown the virus has caused.

He is at ease with that development, having been supported "superbly" by the club's backers, fellow coaches and players following that heart scare in September 2018.

"It was hell of a shock because I was halfway through my run and had a choice to make - put another step forward and realise what was going on, shout and bawl hoping somebody would hear me, or put one step in front of another and get myself home and then deal with it," he said.

"The shock was at the time that even though I was in my 60s, I was running around the countryside a lot more freely than I had done for years.

"I was feeling fairly fit at that time and went for my usual Friday night run before the game on the Saturday."

'It hit me in the middle of my back'

Griffiths thought he was having muscle pain when the attack struck.

"I started walking and there were people walking their dogs and I thought 'I feel all right now, maybe it was a [back] spasm'," he said.

"It hit me in the middle of my back, it wasn't chest pains as such. My initial response was to stretch it off.

"But I thought just in case it isn't a spasm and it's something more sinister I'd better take it easy on the way back and that's what I did.

"I got back to the flat and a friend of mine, Trevor, drove me to A&E in Doncaster Royal Infirmary.

"It took me about 45 minutes to get back I'd say. I didn't time it - distance-wise a couple of miles and there were times when I took a knee, walked a bit, took a knee and I saw a park bench and sat on that; took my pulse, which was fairly high.

"I got back to the flat, called the club doctor and he told me to get the hell down to A&E."

It wasn't long before the full extent of what had happened hit home.

"When they've done all the tests, you realise you're not immortal," said Griffiths.

An operation and seven days of "whirlwind experience" later, he was home to recuperate with instructions not to return to work for at least six weeks.

"I went back in a couple of weeks later… went to watch one of the games," he said.

"I just went in when I was able to drive again, one or two days a week maybe."

'I relished going back to work'

By Christmas 2018, Griffiths was back in full control of Doncaster Knights, of the English Championship. He says returning to work was effectively mental therapy, even if the medical guidance suggested he should not have been there.

"If you're sat at home thinking about it, that can make you more demented," he said.

"So I certainly relished going back and having a crack with the boys and seeing everybody at the club again."

'Where was your mobile?'

He was also taken to task for not having a mobile phone handy while out for that fateful run.

"I wouldn't do what I did," admitted Griffiths.

"They asked 'why didn't you have your phone with you?'. Well I never, ever take a phone when I go running. Why would I? I'm not going to use it.

"My philosophy is that's it, I'm out, that's my time.

"So that was the first thing. The next was I should have called or cried for help and asked the first person I saw and told them and they might have had a phone.

"If I'd done that an ambulance would have come to the field and taken me to crash or critical care unit maybe straight away."

On reflection Griffiths realises how lucky he was to return to good health and rekindle an active lifestyle.

The 2018 festive period underlined to Griffiths his good fortune.

"That Christmas was most welcome," he said.

"When you think back to where you were in the September, in that corner of that field, and you think you're with your grandchildren, your children, then it brings it home to you."