Border and Taihape will rematch from last year's thrilling grand final when WRFU Premier club rugby will try to kickoff on April 18 with three weekend's of non-competition points games.
Border and Taihape will rematch from last year's thrilling grand final when WRFU Premier club rugby will try to kickoff on April 18 with three weekend's of non-competition points games.
The planned opening round of the WRFU's Premier season will now become, in essence, a three weekend pre-season before two rounds with matches counting for competition points will begin on May 9.
As per New Zealand Rugby's directive, no club rugby matches can be played before April 18 as partof the distancing process to combat COVID-19.
This would include two of the originally planned five weeks of Round 1 for the six Premier clubs, who would all play each other three times before semifinals for the Top 4 on July 18.
WRFU club development officer Paul Kenny announced yesterday that the original opening two weekends of the Premier season, March 28 and April 4, have been cancelled.
The following Easter weekend, April 11, was always scheduled to have no matches, so the draw will now pickup with the matches on April 18.
Marist will host Ruapehu at Spriggens Park, Kaierau will make the long trip up the valley to face Ngamatapouri, and Taihape will await Border at Memorial Park in a replay of 2019's thrilling extra time final.
Those games, as well as the matches played on Anzac Day, April 25, and the following weekend, May 1, will non-championship points matches.
Therefore, competition proper will get underway on May 9, with what would have been the start of Round 2 for games.
The draw will then carry on as previously made, with teams all playing each other twice, home and away.
"This is the best and fairest option to run the competition, bearing in mind there is still a possibility that this may change again in the coming days/weeks if the situation worsens," said Kenny.
Currently, the WRFU's Senior competition remains unaffected, as the start date for that 12-team competition had already been set for April 25.
Giving each club essentially three preseason games out of what would have been half of the opening round could be useful for coaches, given all planned preseason games are cancelled while any training sessions have been mandated as "non-contact" through until April 13.
The NZR-directed guidelines do not prevent clubs from operating on their own facilities, while the non-contact training activities must observe "sensible hygiene protocols".
These include not sharing water bottles, ensuring training equipment is regularly cleaned, washing hands with soap or antibacterial, covering coughs and sneezes, while staying at home if experiencing flu-like symptoms.
"We appreciate this is an unprecedented step being taken for community rugby; however, this decision has been made solely with the safety and wellbeing of our participants, families and the wider community in mind," read the email.
Players are encouraged to maintain physical fitness, and coaches can register online at www.rugbytoolbox.co.nz, for a free site that offers skills and drills as well as fitness and training plans.
