Tigers told the date of rugby’s return
TIGERS COACH HAD WANTED TWO MONTHS’ PREPARATION
THE Gallagher Premiership rugby season is set to resume on Saturday, August 15, writes PA Sport staff.
Top-flight fixtures were initially shelved for five weeks in mid-March due to the coronavirus pandemic, with play indefinitely suspended on April 8.
But Premiership Rugby has repeatedly outlined its intention to finish the season and, with sports across the country returning, the target date of August 15 was agreed at a board meeting on Thursday evening.
The decision was taken in the wake of Premiership and Championship clubs this week being given the go-ahead to begin non-contact training.
No decision has yet been taken on whether games will be played behind closed doors, but the Premiership say the structure and format for the rest of the campaign “will follow in due course”.
Last month, Leicester Tigers head coach Geordan Murphy said Premiership players would need two months to properly prepare for a full return to action.
Murphy said union’s physicality meant players must “ramp up” training.
“There has to be a slow, graded return,” he told BBC Radio Leicester.
“That would be a minimum of eight weeks, which is what we’re planning.”
Premiership Rugby chief executive Darren Childs said: “Nothing will happen until it is safe to do so but we will do everything we can to resume the 2019-20 Gallagher Premiership Rugby campaign on Saturday, 15 August. We won’t take risks with people’s health, and rugby has unique challenges due to levels of proximity and impact, but with a number of clubs moving to Stage 1, it is important for us to give players, coaches and clubs clarity on when they can look to return.
“Bearing that in mind, we look forward to the restart of the season.”
There were 13 rounds of Gallagher Premiership fixtures played before the suspension with Exeter are top of the standings, five points ahead of nearest rivals Sale. Leicester Tigers
were in 11th place, the same position they finished in the 2018-19 season
Exeter, Northampton Saints and Saracens also have European Cup commitments, with the three Premiership sides through to the quarter-finals and the finale tentatively scheduled for October 17.
The summer international programme had to be scrapped due to the coronavirus situation, with four matches of the 2020 Six Nations left to be play after it was cut short by the pandemic.
RFU chief executive Bill Sweeney remains optimistic it will still be possible for England to play planned Tests against New Zealand, Tonga, Australia and Argentina in November, but said a number of contingency plans are being considered if travel restrictions resulting from the pandemic make that impossible.
“You would need that spirit of harmony,” he said when asked how such a clash between the club and international calendar might be resolved.
“You need that recognition that 2020 is an exceptional year and we have to sit around a table and find compromises that work for both sides.
“We want to avoid a pure conflict situation with that and recognise the international game has got requirements and the club game also, but let’s find a way through it.”
The resumption of the season will come as a relief to Tigers, with bosses saying they could lose income of more than £5 million this season.
The club is considering making job cuts in the wake of the ‘big hit’ on its finances.
Bath chief executive Tarquin McDonald described the Premiership announcement as “hugely positive” and said everyone was “desperate to get back and play”.