Former Wales captain Gareth Thomas fears the nation could lose a "generation of great rugby players" because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Thomas says young players are motivated by watching their heroes on TV and could lose interest with Pro14 suspended from March until August.

In Wales the new domestic club rugby season will not start in September and could be delayed until January 2021.

"I'm worried about the future of the game," Thomas told BBC Radio Wales.

The ex-British and Irish Lions captain says a lack of opportunity to play or watch rugby could have a detrimental effect.

"I'm worried about the next generation of players because people get motivated by turning on the television and seeing their heroes play and if they don't see their heroes play, then their motivation or drive to want to play for Wales might go into wanting to do something else," Thomas added.

"Or there might be this gap in children being able to go out and play or children being able to go out and train whether it be under-16s, under-15s, under-10s level.

"And that gap might actually may lead to them thinking: 'Do you know what? I'm not sure if I want to go back to rugby.'

"So I just hope that we don't lose a generation of great rugby stars through this small window of the lack of ability of people being able to go out and play rugby; to be able to go out and train and have that excitement."

Less pressure on Pivac after absence

Thomas, who was capped 100 times by his country, believes the pressure on Wayne Pivac, Warren Gatland's successor as Wales coach, has eased during lockdown.

Gatland left after a 12-year stint which in Six Nations terms ended as it started, with a Grand Slam, two of the three Wales won during his era.

Pivac's tenure began with a win - against Italy - and defeats by Ireland, France and England, with their remaining 2020 tournament game against Scotland yet to be rescheduled.

"This season was always going to be difficult for Wales because it is the post-Warren Gatland era," said Thomas, who retired in 2007.

"He is the most successful coach ever to lead Wales, so it was always going to be an added pressure and an added sense of expectancy for the players.

"They have been in games, they have been in it until the very end and showed great character, and there have been times where under Gatland things would have gone their way like 50-50s, but the 50-50s for Pivac weren't going their way.

"But they played a brand of rugby and a style people were starting to enjoy and were excited about and then all of a sudden coronavirus came along and everything stopped.

"Getting back to rugby for Wales, I think this could maybe be a welcome break because all of a sudden people will stop saying this is post-Warren Gatland.

"Gats is back in New Zealand and coaching the Chiefs so suddenly the focus and the energy can be towards not this team's era under Gatland, but to be fully focused on the now and what Pivac can bring to the team."

Thomas' Tackle HIV campaign

Thomas is also hoping to make his own big difference in people's perceptions of and attitudes towards those, like him, who are living with HIV.

In September, 2019, Thomas revealed he is HIV positive and set out to break the stigma and misunderstanding around the condition.

He is now leading the Tackle HIV campaign in partnership with ViiV Healthcare and the Terrence Higgins Trust, with the aim of addressing those issues.

Thomas said: "We did a survey just prior to the launch of this campaign and more than half of people surveyed said they felt that they still were able to contract HIV from somebody else even if they were on effective treatment.

"Two thirds of them said they would end, or consider ending, a relationship if they found out someone was HIV (positive).

"Something that was really important to me was a fact that a third of the people who we surveyed said they wouldn't take part in a contact sport if they knew somebody on their team or on the opposition team was living with HIV and on effective treatment.

"And that says to me there's still a huge amount of misunderstanding, a huge amount of stigma still out there and we need to continuously have this conversation to quash these statements, quash this misunderstanding."