Bristol Bears’ title hopes could be back on track after Premiership Rugby announced it is planning to resume the season in August.
The league confirmed on Friday morning it is targeting a return of the Gallagher Premiership on August 15.
The Premiership has been in lockdown since the coronavirus outbreak in mid-March, but after a board meeting on Thursday league bosses have begun stage one of their resumption plan.
Clubs are now allowed to return to training, in line with Government guidelines announced earlier this week, and they will be gearing towards a resumption in 10 weeks’ time.
Darren Childs, chief executive of Premiership Rugby 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 one, 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.”
“The structure of the 2019-20 season will follow in due course.”
Ashton Gate remains a possible host venue for some if not all of the 57 games left to be played in the Premiership after the club offered up their facilities.
And with the football season, which restarts on June 20, set to finish by early August, Bears could theoretically be free to host some rounds of games there without any overlap with Bristol City FC’s fixtures, with the Robins’ 2020/21 season set to start later in the month.
Bears boss Pat Lam has confirmed that when 2019/20 campaign resumes he will have marquee signings Semi Radradra, Kyle Sinckler and Mitch Eadie at his disposal.
The trio, who will join from Bordeaux Begles, Harlequins and Northampton respectively, move to Ashton Gate officially on July 1, and with action set to resume six weeks later Lam will have his new stars available for selection.
With nine games to play when the season restarts, Lam’s third-placed Bears will be confident they can make a run for the title.
