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Project Apollo bears fruit as NRL lifts off again in Australia

Brisbane Broncos host the Parramatta Eels in Brisbane today

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Australia’s National Rugby League will bring profession­al team sport back to the southern hemisphere for the first time since the coronaviru­s shutdown when the Brisbane Broncos host the Parramatta Eels in Brisbane today.

Rugby league chief Peter V’landys was met with widespread disbelief when he announced in early April that the NRL would resume on May 28 but his ambition will pay off when a season suspended in late March resumes at Lang Park.

That ambition has been aided in large part by Australia’s success in containing Covid-19 due to early travel restrictio­ns, social distancing measures and widespread testing. Restrictio­ns have been eased but some remain and the NRL, the most popular winter sport on the country’s east coast, has had to get special dispensati­on from government to get the players back on the pitch.

The matches will be played behind closed doors at a few selected stadiums and while the rest of the country is enjoying a bit more freedom, players and staff are still living under strict isolation rules.

The New Zealand-based Warriors squad have made the biggest sacrifices to get the season going again, spending two weeks in quarantine in an interior city before moving on to Gosford, where they will play the St George Dragons on Saturday. The Warriors will have to play all their matches in Australia until the mooted trans-Tasman Sea “bubble” is put in place to allow travel back-andforth to New Zealand. Internal travel restrictio­ns also remain in place and special permission has had to be granted by the Queensland government for sides from New South Wales and Victoria to fly in to play the three teams from the vast northeaste­rn state. The self-proclaimed “greatest game of all”, the 13-man version of the more internatio­nal sport of rugby union, will resume in round three of the NRL season with round-robin matches running for another 17 weeks until the start of the playoffs.

The grandly named “Project Apollo” committee which plotted the return of the NRL is even hoping to have a limited number of fans in stadiums by the start of July. The Australian Medical Associatio­n (AMA) described that proposal as “absurd”

and “dangerous” on Tuesday but given what the NRL has already achieved, it might be premature to rule it out altogether.

WESTERN FORCE TO PLAY IN AUSTRALIAN DOMESTIC COMPETITIO­N

Western Force will join Australia’s four Super Rugby sides in a domestic competitio­n slated for July, the Perth-based team’s billionair­e owner Andrew Forrest said yesterday. Mining magnate Forrest said he had accepted a Rugby Australia (RA) offer but stressed the arrangemen­t was only for 2020.

RA cut the Force from Super Rugby after the 2017 season, when the competitio­n contracted to 15 teams after its 18-team format proved unpopular with fans and broadcaste­rs. This year’s Super

Rugby campaign was suspended in March when travel curbs to contain Covid-19 made the competitio­n untenable. “I want what is best for rugby in Perth and in Australia and to ensure the game flourishes,” Forrest said. “My views on the mismanagem­ent of the game under the previous Rugby Australia administra­tion are well known and remain steadfast.”

RA hailed Force’s involvemen­t and said in a media release it remained “in dialogue” with the Tokyo-based Sunwolves to also join the tournament to be held July 3-Sept. 19 in a round robin format, pending broadcaste­rs’ approval.

Forrest, who bought the Force after they were cut from Super Rugby, said he had a constructi­ve conversati­on with incoming RA chairman Hamish McLennan. “I am prepared to help out RA and new chair Hamish McLennan in a time of crisis, for the good of the sport,” he said. “Until I see evidence that reinventio­n is at the core of any strategic plan RA comes up with, it will be difficult to commit to a long-term investment.”

McLennan said Force’s commitment was a “great story” and he hoped to work with Forrest to reinvigora­te the domestic game. “We... understand that decisions made by Rugby Australia in 2017 were painful for sports fans in Western Australia and the Force players, and we are sorry that they haven’t been able to share in the rivalry against their fellow Australian teams,” McLennan said.

The Force said they might have to relocate to Australia’s eastern states to play in the tournament due to strict border controls in Western Australia.

 ?? (AFP) ?? Queensland Reds captain Liam Wright (left) training in Brisbane yesterday.
(AFP) Queensland Reds captain Liam Wright (left) training in Brisbane yesterday.

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