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Author Topic: Pitbull 11th May  (Read 181 times)

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deadlyfrom5yardsout

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Pitbull 11th May
« on: Monday 11-May-2020, 09:47* »

Rugby must get testing policy right to convince public it should return

Brian Moore

There are nine rounds of Premiership rugby still to be played Credit

Rugby’s “Marriott” scheme is now abandoned. The Premiership teams will not be hunkering down and playing their remaining nine rounds at Twickenham, while staying in the adjacent hotel.
I always thought that the idea of trying to isolate 12 teams in one place, for more than two months, was straining credibility and it seems the Premiership has taken the same view.
There would have been grave logistical and psychological difficulties in pursuing this camp mentality.
Though you could say it would be no different to being on tour, when you think about it more carefully, it would differ markedly. On tour you move every three days and have different surroundings from move to move. This, and the fact that you can go out and relieve the tedium of hotel living, makes tours fun. Living together without these external stimuli would have been exceedingly difficult.
When you add the costs, which would have been in the region of £10,000 per week per team, you see how this idea, though plausible in principle, ran squarely into reality and foundered.
Rugby has, rightly, decided to join other team sports such as football and cricket in adopting a uniform approach to its eventual return, not least because no sport wants to be criticised for taking a maverick approach if things do not go to plan. 
The major team sports are in detailed discussion with the Government as to what the latter will accept by way of safeguards, timing and what to do if there are problems during the return to play and the games themselves.
The Premiership clubs need four weeks to get into match shape, but will not be reporting en masse to resume training, even when the Government gives permission to do so. It is planned for players to return to their clubs in waves. Initially pairs of players will train together, then in greater numbers, building up to full-impact training towards the end of that period. In Ireland, rugby is in the final phase (five) of its planned exit from lockdown and in the last group of sports to be resumed on Aug 10.
The Premiership is hoping to restart before that date, and may find out more in the next couple of days as we learn more about the UK plan.
 
Several venues are being considered for games, which will be behind closed doors, with remote control cameras. Within stadiums there will be four distinct zones; the pitch, changing rooms, media area and remaining stadium, with access strictly limited. Given that hospitality, concessions and other normal activities will not be open, the cost of running the games should be minimised.
This strategy, as with subsequent training and games, will depend on rigorous and extensive private testing, which is the first and by far the most important, of several difficulties they will have to negotiate if they are to rescue the season and enable all 12 clubs to remain solvent.
Several medical experts have been hired, on a freelance basis, to work with the various expert groups from other sports and the Premiership clubs so that the scientific approach is uniform and best practice established. They will also help with the testing programme.
It is only through testing that rugby, and other sports, will be able to convince players and the wider public that it should be able to return, especially as it is a collision sport. It will not be cheap when you consider the number of players and staff involved.

Twickenham Stadium has been used as a testing site for key workers during lockdown

The estimates run into the millions, not thousands, because rugby will use the most comprehensive tests for nearly 50 relevant staff per team and there will have to be continual testing, not just one round at the start. The biggest problem will come if a player tests positive. Will clubs be able to isolate that player and then re-test all staff, or will they be required to quarantine more people and, if so, how many? All sports must have a government-approved protocol for this scenario.
They must also obtain government help to source tests, because they should not be using tests that could have been used for front-line workers.
Rugby does not want to restart and then have to stop, because considerable sums will have been spent without solving any problems. If the season does not finish, the effects will spill over into next season and that will affect not just the game but all ancillary businesses.
Rugby needs some luck to see its way through its problems. It provides an escape for people who will not see their lives return to normal for some time and those people will accept that the sport is treated differently because of this. That will only hold if in all other respects rugby gets its return right.


 

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