SRU WANT TO TRIAL 1,000 FANS AT DERBY

SCOTTISH rugby chiefs are hoping to convince the Scottish Government to allow a crowd of up to 1,000 fans inside BT Murrayfield for next month’s clash between Edinburgh and Glasgow Warriors.

The SRU will make their case to a Holyrood commission next week which will outline plans for socially distancing spectators for the match on August 22 in what they are confident will be a safe environment.

The Scottish Government have consistently played down the prospect of crowds returning to sports stadia before October in their efforts to combat the Covid pandemic. But, if the plans are given the green light and it proves successful, the SRU feel it can be used as a blueprint moving forward as they aim to kickstart

a sport which has been in total shutdown since mid-March. Ahead of what is planned to be a Pro14 double-header between the Scottish rivals, an SRU statement read: ‘We are confident we can deliver this event to an excellent standard and ensure the safety of our players, employees and spectators, and we look forward to presenting the final plan to Government for approval next week.’ First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced this week that physical-distancing restrictions could soon be relaxed from two metres to one for some sectors if mitigating protocols are implemented. The statement added: ‘Going forward, individual sectors will need to demonstrate what public health mitigations would be used to justify a reduction from 2m. Therefore, we plan to include the case for 1m+ physical distancing in our submission to the Government next week advocating BT Murrayfield as a test venue.’