Lanarkshire rugby clubs have been told they now won't get back to competitive action before January.
Scottish Rugby's Board have supported a recommendation by the Scottish Rugby Council to delay the return of competitive rugby at all levels of the club and school game until January 2021 at the earliest.
The announcement by the Scottish Government to pause all outdoor contact sport for over-18s, with the exception of professional sport, across five regional health board until Sunday, October 25, and a previous decision to delay moving to Phase 4 of its Covid-19 Recovery Route Map until at least October 15, means Scottish Rugby's timetable will be further delayed.
As a result, the resumption of competitive rugby from October 31 was deemed no longer feasible.
Scottish Rugby felt that without government lockdown measures easing to enable the game to move to Phase 5 and the resulting resumption of full contact training and non-competitive matches, players would be unable to fully and safely prepare for competitive matches by that point.
Over a dozen rugby clubs across Scotland have reported positive coronavirus cases in recent weeks, including Hamilton and East Kilbride, resulting in facilities being temporarily closed and deep cleaned, training sessions being postponed and those affected going into self-isolation.
Scottish Rugby president Ian Barr said: "After much careful consideration and following a detailed briefing by colleagues in Rugby Development, our Chief Medical Officer and the updates from Scottish Rugby's Threat Management Group, we took the difficult decision as aCouncil to recommend delaying the start of competitive rugby until January 2021, which the Board then fully supported.
"We know many clubs and schools were preparing well and looking forward to resuming competitive matches, often against their local rivals due to the proposed regional fixtures, but we must put the safety of our players, volunteers and their local communities first.
"With Covid numbers rising nationally, we must act responsibly in the communities where our clubs and schools play, and secondly this delay gives us all time to take stock and contribute to helping lower the infection rates, which can hopefully enable us to return to rugby fully at the right time."
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