RFU 'very close' to green light for return of full-contact rugby at grassroots - but...

[ASFN Admin]

The Rugby Football Union is “very close” to receiving the green light to commence the return of 15-a-side, full-contact rugby at grass-roots level, but the adapted game will not feature scrums or mauls. Unlike other major team sports, competitive rugby union matches have not been played at community or junior level in England since the country first went into lockdown in March because of its high face-to-face contact levels. Ahead of a second lockdown, the RFU are hopeful of gaining the sign-off from the Department for Digital Culture Media and Sport as well as Public Health England and the Chief Medical Officer for an adapted game to begin once other team sports resume. That could mean competitive matches taking place in January, although the RFU has cancelled the 2020-21 grass-roots season. The price will be the absence of the scrum and maul, which many players believe are sacrosanct elements of the sport. Tackles and rucks should be allowed. In May, when the RFU’s rugby development director Steve Grainger first proposed removing the scrum and maul, which have the highest face-to-face contact time, he was met with an avalanche of vitriol. However six months later, Grainger believes the mood is very different with no end to the pandemic in sight. Even though it will still anger many diehards, Grainger says the choice is better than no competitive rugby at all. “It is a bit like people who are used to going to restaurants all the time and now the only meal is a sandwich in the fridge,” Grainger told Telegraph Sport. “If you don’t have that you’ll have nothing to eat. “We are in a position where we (the RFU and DCMS) understand each other’s position. We understand the challenge that they have and they understand the challenges that we have. We are very close to an agreement. If we are on pause for four weeks, our aim has to be to come out of this circuit-break where we can get a 15-a-side rugby with adaptations being played when other team sports are allowed to resume.”

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