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AUCKLAND. — New Zealand rugby players were back in training on Monday as the country’s Super Rugby franchises prepare for a 13 June return to competition but while the developments do provide some light at the end of the tunnel for local franchises, the sport in South Africa is still a long way from following suit.
“It is encouraging that rugby is returning somewhere, but there is a big difference between New Zealand and South Africa at the moment,” said Stormers coach John Dobson.
“New Zealand appears to have controlled the coronavirus pandemic, with less than 10 new infections a day, whereas we are told that the peak here might only hit us in a few months. We are in the hands of the government, and obviously we are all very eager to get back onto the playing field and resume competition, but I think that is some way off.”
Whereas in the first month and a bit after rugby was suspended in mid-March local coaches had agreed that they would be able to restart rugby if given three weeks notice, that has changed markedly now that the suspension of play has extended to more than two months.
“At that stage we still had a high level of readiness to play again, but now we would need to have a proper, full pre-season with warm-up fixtures just before the resumption of competition to get the players ready to take contact,” said Dobson.
“It was initially one week of preparation required for every two weeks away from the field, but that has swung around. We’d need a minimum of six weeks now.”
Local rugby coaches and players are hopeful that there will be a restart at some stage of the current season though, with a high powered domestic competition, albeit played behind closed doors, setting the stage for the sport’s return in the country.
International rugby being played this year seems more ambitious given the travel restrictions, and certainly the Rugby Championship would require a lot of hoops to be jumped through if it was to take place given that neither New Zealand or Australia are likely to open their borders anytime soon. And obviously quarantining entire rugby squads for two weeks before they can even start a tour is unrealistic.
However, there are hopes that we may still see the tests against Scotland and Georgia which were initially scheduled for July.
Those matches, scheduled for Cape Town, Durban and Port Elizabeth, have now been officially postponed, but with rugby perhaps resuming in the UK in July, there are hopes to host those games in October.
It’s all up in the sky, however, and quite literally, because at this point no-one knows what international travel is going to look like for the foreseeable future.
Local rugby coaches and officials though at least now have a working example to look at as they set about putting in place the measures that will be needed if rugby does return while the pandemic is still in full flow. — SuperSport.
Online Reporter