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World Rugby suggest it may be a long wait before fans are allowed back in stadiums

By Online Editors
(Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)

Rugby is facing a devastating financial blow after medical guidelines released by the sport’s governing body stated matches should be played behind closed doors until a vaccine exists for Covid-19.

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With England’s Rugby Football Union already projecting to lose £50 million because of the pandemic, the prospect of the long-term absence of large-scale crowds from major venues would plunge the sport in England – and across the world – into crisis. It is expected that it could be up to 18 months before a vaccine is freely available.

And the difficulty of even returning behind closed doors was also laid bare in the report, which stated that upon returning for training players will initially need to observe social distancing of 1.5 metres, wear gloves and face masks, and refrain from making any physical contact such as hugging or handshakes.

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All players will also be asked to fill in a daily questionnaire for symptoms of Covid-19 and will be required to have their temperature checked before entering the clubhouse or training facility. Anyone with a temperature higher than 37.5 centigrade will be sent home.

New Zealand Rugby chairman Brent Impey said yesterday that he had hopes of a return to action with New Zealand’s five Super Rugby teams in mid-June but was waiting on government guidelines to be revealed under Level 2 before they could make a decision.

In the UK, Premiership Rugby’s ambition of staging the remainder of the 2019/20 season in the middle of the year also appeared to recede after World Rugby advised that competitive rugby should not resume until national governments allow public gatherings of up to 250 people.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said that phase two of the Government’s coronavirus strategy will be announced next week, which is likely to be limited to small social gatherings.

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Compiled by medical experts Éanna Falvey, Prav Mathema, Mary Horgan, Martin Raftery, the World Rugby guidelines are being issued to all unions who are expected to create a framework for a return to play in conjunction with their own government’s advice on Public Gathering Restrictions, Social Distancing, Travel Restrictions (PST). This will then be passed to all clubs, amateur and professional.

Under World Rugby’s projection, “normal competition” would not resume until after a vaccine has been introduced.

The first stage would be a return to rugby training. Even then training would be staggered between groups of five or ten players, depending on government advice, who should be assigned their own specific coach to avoid overlap between groups.

The guidelines state: “Where possible, all players and staff should wear face masks to prevent possible spread from asymptomatic, infected players.” Players are also advised to travel alone to and from training and should shower and eat at home.

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Clubs will also be required to conduct a deep clean after each session. “Facilities would remain unavailable until cleaning can be completed.”

The next stage would be for full squad training once respective governments allow gatherings of up to 50 people. However, full-contact training should be planned in consultation with local public health authorities and will need PST to allow “close contact” or a specific Government exemption. Unions and clubs will need to demonstrate an ability to “comprehensively screen, test and contact trace”to reach that stage.

World Rugby are conscious that coaches may be tempted to ignore or bypass their advice warning: “Your actions will speak far louder than words, and will affect the health of yourself, your family, colleagues and friends. For coaches, the temptation to progress beyond the measures permitted will be an issue.”

World Rugby recommends that competitive matches should only resume once there is an agreement between union, clubs, competition organisers, coaches and players. Unions are advised to appoint a Covid-19 Manager to present the return to training and matches with the government and manage the communication across the clubs and competitions. The manager will also be asked to conduct a risk assessment for when matches can resume.

Those first matches are “likely to be over short distances” and will not include overnight stays. Players are advised to travel individually by car. Once competitive rugby successfully resumes within a country then international rugby could take place providing the countries share “relaxed border control measures”.

The prospect of England hosting southern-hemisphere countries later in the year appears remote with trans-continental matches appearing as the penultimate stage of rugby’s return to normal competition. That means the All Blacks highly-anticipated clash with England, their first meeting since the World Cup, would be cancelled.

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J
Jon 4 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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john 7 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

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Adrian 9 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

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T
Trevor 12 hours ago
Will forgotten Wallabies fit the Joe Schmidt model?

Thanks Brett.. At last a positive article on the potential of Wallaby candidates, great to read. Schmidt’s record as an international rugby coach speaks for itself, I’m somewhat confident he will turn the Wallaby’s fortunes around …. on the field. It will be up to others to steady the ship off the paddock. But is there a flaw in my optimism? We have known all along that Australia has the players to be very competitive with their international rivals. We know that because everyone keeps telling us. So why the poor results? A question that requires a definitive answer before the turn around can occur. Joe Schmidt signed on for 2 years, time to encompass the Lions tour of 2025. By all accounts he puts family first and that’s fair enough, but I would wager that his 2 year contract will be extended if the next 18 months or so shows the statement “Australia has the players” proves to be correct. The new coach does not have a lot of time to meld together an outfit that will be competitive in the Rugby Championship - it will be interesting to see what happens. It will be interesting to see what happens with Giteau law, the new Wallaby coach has already verbalised that he would to prefer to select from those who play their rugby in Australia. His first test in charge is in July just over 3 months away .. not a long time. I for one wish him well .. heaven knows Australia needs some positive vibes.

21 Go to comments
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