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
excellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
9 Go to comments9 Brumbies! What a joke! The best performing team in Oz! Ditch Skelton for Swain or Neville. Ryan Lonergan ahead of McDermott any day! Best selection bolter is Toole … amazing player
12 Go to commentsI like this, but ultimately rugby already has enough trophies. Trying to make more games “consequential" might prove to be a fools errand, although this is a less bad idea than some others. Minor quibble with the title of the article; it isn’t very meaningful to say the boks are the unofficial world champions when it would be functionally impossible for the Raeburn trophy not to be held by the world champions. There’s a period of a few months every 4 years when there is no “unofficial” world champion, and the Raeburn trophy is held by the actual world champions.
9 Go to commentsIts a great idea but one that I dont think will have a lot of traction. It will depend on the prestige that they each hold but if you can do that it would be great. When Japan beat the Boks (my team) I was absolutely devestated but I wont deny the great game they played that day. We were outclassed and it was one of the best games of rugby I have seen. Using an idea like this you might just give the the underdog teams more of an opportunity to beat the big teams and I can absolutely see it being a brilliant display of rugby. They beat us because they planned for that game. It was a great moment for Japan. This way we can remove the 4 year wait and give teams something to aim for outside of World Cup years.
9 Go to commentsHi, Dave here. Happy to answer questions 🥰
9 Go to commentsDon’t think that headline is accurate. It’s great to see Aus doing better but I’m not sure they’ve shown much threat to the top of the table. They shouldn’t be inflating wins against the lousy Highlanders and Crusaders either.
3 Go to commentsSuch a shame Roigard and Aumua picked up long term injuries, probably the two form players in the comp. Also, pretty sure Clarke Dermody isn’t their coach. Got it half right though.
3 Go to commentsOh the Aussie media, they never learn. At least Andrew Kellaway is like “Woah, yeah it’s great, but settle down there guys” having endured years of the Aussie media, fans, and often their players getting ahead of themselves only to fall flat on their faces. Have the “We'll win the Bledisloe for sure this year!” headlines started yet? It’s simple to see what’s going on. The Aussie teams are settled, they didn't lose any of their major players overseas. The Crusaders and Chiefs lost key experienced All Blacks, and Razor in the Crusaders case, and clearly neither are anywhere near as strong as last year (The Canes and Blues would probably be 3rd & 4th if they were). The Highlanders are annually average, even more so post-Aaron Smith and a big squad clean out. The two teams at the top? The two nz sides with largely the same settled roster as last year, except Ardie Savea for the Canes. They’ve both got far better coaches now too. If the Aussies are going to win the title, this is the year the kiwi sides will be weakest, so they better take their chance.
3 Go to commentsThe World Cup has to be the gold standard, line in the sand. 113 teams compete for what is the opportunity to make the pool stages, and then the knockout games for the trophy. The concept is sound. This must have been the rationale when the World Cup was created, surely? But I’m all for Looking forward and finding new ways for the SH to dominate the NH into the future. The autumn series needs a change up. Let’s start by having the NH teams come south every odd year for the Autumn/Spring series games?
9 Go to commentsWhat’ll happen when the AI models of the future go back in time and try to destroy the AI models of the past standing in their way of certain victory?
41 Go to commentsThanks, Nick. We (Seanny Maloney, Brett and I) just discussed Charlie as a potential Wallaby No 8, and wondered if he has truly realised how big he is in contact (and whether he can add 5 kg w/o slowing down). Your scouting report confirms our suspicions he has the materiel. No one knows if he has the mentality (as Johann van Graan said this week about CJ, Duane and Alfie B) to carry 10-15 times a game.
57 Go to commentsHe would be a great player for the Stormers, Dobbo should approach the guy.
3 Go to commentsGood article. A few years back when he was playing for the Cheetahs, he was a quiet standout for exactly the seasons stated here. I occasionally get to see his games in the UK, and he has become a more complete player and in many ways like an Irish player. His work ethic is so suitable to the Leinster game. I wonder if Rassie would have him listed somewhere.
3 Go to commentsResults probably skewed by the fact that a few clubs have foreign fly halves in their 30s, but most teams have young English scrum halves. Results also likely to be skewed by the fact that many teams rely on centres and fullbacks to provide depth at 10, whereas they will need to stock a large number of specialist backup 9s.
1 Go to commentsI really get the sense that when all is said and done, the path of least resistance will end up being a merger of Wasps & Worcester that essentially kills the Worcester Warriors brand and sees Wasps permanently playing at Sixways. I’m not saying that’s what should happen or what I want to happen. I just think it’s the easiest rout to take and therefore, will be what happens. Wasps will definitely return to play first, and I suppose it all depends on if they can find support at Sixways. If people turn up and support Wasps in that community, at that ground, I bet they drop the Sevenoaks plan and just remain at Sixways. Under the radar but not totally unrelated, it looks as though London Irish are going to be brought back from the dead by a German consortium and look set to return, likely to the remade Championship. It’s set to have 12 clubs next season with 14 in 2025/26, what do you want to bet those extra 2 are Wasps and London Irish?
3 Go to commentsThe 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 👍
3 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 comments