Bangor lead the way - when will RFU follow?
THE long wait for community rugby to be played in the UK has finally come to an end – in Northern Ireland.
Ulster Bank League Division 2C outfit Bangor RFC were one of the clubs who played their first pre-season games last weekend with spectators allowed to watch the 1st and 2nd XVs do the double on East Belfast opponents CIYMS.
It will make rugby clubs across England and Wales wonder why they are so much further behind on the return to rugby roadmap.
“Hopefully the RFU can look at it, and if it’s safe to do so, they can get going again in England soon,” said Bangor RFC head coach Tom Rock, the former Leeds, Otley and
London Welsh back.
In England, the community game is at Stage C and needs to get to Stage F before the competitive season can start. An update is due from the RFU on October 2 – just over a month after the IRFU gave clubs both sides of the border the green light to start playing again.
According to the last announcement from the WRU at the end of August, Wales is still at the fitness and skills-based training stage.
For Scottish clubs, the situation is more optimistic with full contact activities scheduled to take place from October 5, friendlies allowed from October 19 and competitive matches a further fortnight away.
Rock fears that players will be lost to the game forever if the rest of the UK doesn’t follow suit with Ireland soon.
“Once lads get out of the habit of playing other things take over,” he pointed out. “I’ve had to prise half-a-dozen of ours off the golf course because they got comfortable doing that over the summer. The longer it goes on, the more difficult it becomes.
“Credit to the IRFU, they came up with a pragmatic solution and clear guidance to allow us to get some activity.”
The impact of COVID-19 was evident at Upritchard Park – Bangor’s home ground – from the outset, with stewards controlling access to the car park, sanitising stations in place before approaching the pitches, and checks that everyone had completed a personal health declaration.
“Everyone is just delighted to be back,” Rock said. “I think everyone is realistic that there may be a degree of disruption as the season goes on, but we can’t preempt that. We will just try and keep our lads and members healthy, and make this the safest possible place to come and play and watch rugby.”
Former Ulster player Mark Best played in the 12-5 victory for the 1sts after his current club, Doncaster Knights, agreed to temporarily release him while the RFU Championship wait for a return date.
Best signed for the Knights after an injuryplagued final season at Jersey Reds. A broken arm and a complicated dislocated wrist injury ruled him out from November until the end of the season, so he was delighted to finally get the opportunity to pull on his boots again.
“It was good to be back playing again, but my match fitness is some way off !” the centre said.