Caution urged as Southern Kings plan restart
Plans to resume the Guinness PRO14 in Port Elizabeth on August 22 have been greeted with cautious optimism by SA Rugby Union CEO Jurie Roux and team officials
PRO14 officials have released a proposed fixture list which will see the Kings facing the Cheetahs in Port Elizabeth in the first game after the Covid-19 lockdown.
The northern hemisphere showpiece was postponed indefinitely in March due to the global pandemic, but after more than three months of inaction, the organisers are hoping to conclude the 2019/2020 season by mid-September.
No match has been played in the five-nation league since Connacht’s win over Southern Kings on March 1 in Port Elizabeth.
Provided the PRO14’s restart plans are greenlighted by the various governments, it will see a 25-week break in total in between matches.
“We hope to see the Cheetahs and Kings play in the end of this season’s PRO14, but there are many factors to take into consideration before we know how it will work,” Roux said.
“The Covid-19 pandemic is still rife in our country, and the health and safety of South Africans remains the most important priority, which is why we continue to work with government and all the various stakeholders.
“We have to ensure we handle the return-to-train and eventually return-to-play in the best possible way.
“We’ll only be able to play in local derbies, but nothing can happen before we can travel internally.”
Kings head coach Robbi Kempson and his rival at the Cheetahs, Hawies Fourie, shared Roux’s sentiments.
The planned return of the PRO14 includes derbies in SA, Italy and Scotland, and two rounds of pool matches yet to be determined in Ireland and Wales (on August 22 and 29 respectively), followed by the semifinals and final early in September.
“It would be fantastic to play again, and the players are understandably keen to get back on the field, but we are realistic in our expectations,” Kempson said.
“We will take a very cautious approach, and as soon as we get the go-ahead from SA Rugby and government, we will start with the next stages of our preparation programme.
“Training has gone very well.
“The players have bought into all the programmes and daily monitoring of their progression.
“We have completed phase 1 of our baseline aerobic conditioning, and all players who met the positional goals and requirements have moved on to phase 2.
“These two phases are very important for us as they have been neglected in the past, so the players now have a firm base to build from.
“The Kings have already put in place the medical Return to Play (RTP) protocol, and will start with small groups when the government and SA Rugby allow us to do so.
“It is quite a process that the players and staff need to go through before we can start functioning in larger groups to ensure the safety of all concerned.”
Fourie agreed with Kempson that caution was needed before rugby resumed.
“Everyone is excited to get back on the field, but we realise there is a much bigger picture at play here and that it will take a long and careful process to reach that point as the players are still training individually,” he said.
“We are awaiting instructions from SA Rugby as to when we can return to training and the processes to follow in that regard.
“The Cheetahs have plans in place regarding what will be needed when we eventually start training again and we will adapt that accordingly when necessary.”
Proposed schedule: