New Zealand schools take wide-ranging approaches to return-to-play
Rugby training has started again at Auckland’s Macleans College – but only in groups of no more than 10.
Like all New Zealand schools, the college has come up with its own interpretation of the rules for school sports at alert level 2.
“We’ve had mixed messages,” said principal Steven Hargreaves.
“The Ministry [of Education] was out of the gate quickly and said full contact training and no need to observe gathering restrictions, and then the sporting bodies have come in and restricted it to groups of 10.”
The confusion has left schools free to take a wide range of interpretations. Some, especially primary schools, have banned all contact sports, at least for the first week or two, while others are more relaxed.
At Onehunga High School, principal Deidre Shea said there would be no training this week.
“We want them to feel comfortable with the environment first and just to reconnect, really. We are going to wait for a week or so,” she said.
At Macleans, a First XV rugby squad of 32 has been split into four groups of eight so that they can practise skills such as jumping in a lineout and passing the ball but keeping physical contact to a minimum.
“We’ve decided that there will be no scrums or tackling at this stage,” said coach Bevan Packer.
“The key thing for the boys is that after those seven weeks of lockdown they were just chomping at the bit to get out there and run around, so our main job as coaches is to try to hold them back.”
Macleans coaches held 40-minute training sessions with their teams twice a week via Zoom right through the lockdown and the First XV started training on the first day of level 2 on May 14.
On the other hand, at Wait?kere College, principal Mark Shanahan said teams started training this week in full squads of about 28 for rugby, 18 for soccer and 12 for netball.
“All the key sports are doing fitness training this week,” he said.
“Next week are going to start doing physical contact training but following protocols such as washing hands before and after training and wiping down equipment afterwards.
“And by week three of this return to school we’ll be into normal sports with normal physical contact.”
Ministry of Education deputy secretary Katrina Casey said the limit of 10 on public gatherings in level 2 did not apply to schools.
“School sports grounds are part of an educational facility and are not classified as public mass gatherings and do not have the same number restrictions as outlined by the Covid-19 regulations,” she said.
“Sports on school grounds rely on contact tracing of those on site during school hours. That means inter-school sporting events can return as a contact tracing register will be there to record the teams.”
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Packer said Macleans has already lined up two other schools for games before the inter-school competition starts officially but could not set dates for those pre-season games yet because they needed referees from NZ Rugby, which has not yet approved them.
Rugby and the other main sporting bodies are hoping a Government review of the level 2 rules, scheduled for Monday, may relax the 10-person limit for gatherings to perhaps 50 next week and to 100 within a few weeks.
“We are still saying no training and no games till any further notice from the Government,” said Auckland Rugby communications manager James Johnston.
However, NZ Rugby, Netball NZ and the other main sporting codes are all indicating on their websites that, if the mass gathering rules are relaxed, community sports could resume from the weekend of June 20, with pre-season games allowed in the week before that.
College Sport Auckland says it hopes to start inter-school sport in the same week from Monday, June 15.
Shanahan, who chairs College Sport, said that would allow just three games before the school term ends on July 3, but regional games could then continue right until the end of term 3 because this year’s national winter tournaments have been cancelled.
“Possibly for some sports we can still have a full season without having to shorten it for the winter tournaments,” he said.
Principals’ Federation president Perry Rush said most schools were taking “a fairly cautious approach” until everyone was confident about hygiene procedures.
“We are seeing that confidence grow in our communities,” he said.
Comments on RugbyPass
The shoulder is a “joint” with multiple bones. You don’t “fracture” a shoulder, you fracture any one or more of the bones that make up a shoulder.
2 Go to commentsOh dear, bones too suspect to continue?
2 Go to commentsBold headline considering the Canes and Blues are 1 and 2 and the Brumbies were soundly beaten by the Chiefs and Blues. Biggest surprise is Rebels 4 Crusaders 12 - no one saw that coming. If Aus are improving that’s great 👍
1 Go to commentsAnna, You are right, we need to have patience whilst the others catch up to England and France. Also it is the PWR that has been the game changer for England. the RFU put money into that initially at the expense of the Red Roses. I was sceptical at first but it has paid off in spades.
1 Go to commentsI think Matt Proctor became a 1 test AB in the same fixture. Cameron is quality and has been great this season, can’t believe’s he only 27. Realistically how would he not be selected for ABs squad this year. Only Dmac is ahead of him as a specialist 10. With Jordan out, it will come down to where and when Beauden Barrett slots back in, and where they want to play Ruben Love. Cameron seems an absolute lock in for the wider squad though. Added benefit of TJ-Cameron-Jordie combination at 9, 10, 11 too.
1 Go to commentsFarcical, to what end would someone want to pay to keep this thing going.
1 Go to commentsHavili, our best 12 by a mile, will be in the squad, if he stays fit. JB is the most overrated AB in the last 50 years.
61 Go to commentsWe had during the week twilight footy, twilight cricket, tw golf plus there was the athletics club. Then the weekend was rugby 15s plus the net ball, really busy club scene back then but so much has changed and rugby has suffered. And it was all about changing lifestyles.
6 Go to commentsIn the 70s and 80s my club ran 5 Senior sides plus a Vets. Now it is 2 sides with an occasional 3rd team. Players have difficulty getting to training now, not sure why and the commitment is not there. It seems to me more a problem of people applying themselves and not expecting to turn up and play whenever they want to.
6 Go to commentsROG’s contract is until 2027. The conversation about a successor to Galthie after RWC 2027 may be starting now. We can infer that Galthie’s reign stops then. He is throwing the Irish Coaching Job angle in because he is Irish. The next Irish coach MUST be Leo Cullen. As well as being the best coach available, coaching the vast majority of Irish Internationals week in week out, he has shown incredible skill at recruiting the best coaching staff for the job in hand. That was a failing in France. Cullen is a shrewd guy and if there is a need for foreign coaches underneath him he won’t hesitate. Rightly so. Ireland does need to start to bring Irish coaches through. Not just at the professional level but we need to train coaches to man new pathways for developing kids from schools/clubs up through the divisions.
8 Go to commentsNo Islam says it must rule where it stands Thus it is to be deleted from this planet Earth
18 Go to commentsThis team probably does not beat the ABs sadly Not sure if BPA will be available given his signing for Force but has to enter consideration. Very strong possibility of getting schooled by the AB props. Advantage AB. Rodda/Skelton would be a tasty locking combination - would love to see how they get on. Advantage Wallabies. Backrow a risk of getting out hustled and outmuscled by ABs. Will be interesting to see if the Blues feast on the Reds this weekend the way they did the Brumbies we are in big trouble at the breakdown. Great energy, running and defence but goalkicking/general kicking/passing quality in the halves bothers me enormously. SA may have won the World Cup for a lot of the tournament without a recognised goalkicker but Pollard in the final made a difference IMO. Injuries and retirements leave AB stocks a bit lighter but still stronger. 12 and 13 ABs shade it (Barret > Paisami, Ione = Ikitau, arguably) Interesting clash of styles on the wings - Corey Toole running around Caleb Clark and Caleb running over the top of Toole. Reece vs Koro probably the reverse. Pretty even IMO. 15s Kelleway = Love See advantage to ABs man for man, but we are not obviously getting slaughtered anywhere which makes a nice change. Think talent wise we are pretty even and if our cohesion and teamwork is better than the ABs then its just about doable.
11 Go to commentsCompletely agree. More friday night games would be a hit. RFU to make sure every club has a floodlit pitch. Club opens again Saturday to welcome touch / tag. Minis and youths on Sunday
6 Go to comments1.97m and 105Kg? Proportionately, probably skinnier than me at 1.82 and 82kilos. He won’t survive against the big guys at that weight.
56 Go to commentsThe value he brought to the crusaders as an assistant was equal to what he got out of being there. He reflected not only on the team culture but also the credit he attributed to the rugby community. Such experience shouldn’t be overlooked.
8 Go to commentsGood luck Aussie
11 Go to commentssmith at 9 / mounga 10 / laumape 12 / fainganuku 14
61 Go to commentsBar the injuries, it’s pretty much their top team …
2 Go to commentsDon’t disagree with much of this but it appears you forgot Rodda and Beale, who started at the Force on the weekend.
11 Go to commentsExcept for the injured Zach Gallagher this would be Saders best forward pack for the season. Blackadder needs to stay at 7, for all of Christies tackling he is not dominant and offers very little else. McNicholfullback is maybe a good option, Fihaki not really upto it, there was a reason Burke played there last year. Maybe Havilli to 2nd five McLeod to wing. Need a strong winger on 1 side to compliment Reece
1 Go to comments