Rugby is planning to return from August 10, following the lifting of Coronavirus restrictions on physical sport.
The full-contact sport is permitted to return at the final stage of the government's roadmap to normality, but restrictions on mass gatherings until at least September mean any return is likely to be behind-closed-doors.
With the Pro14 and Champions Cup still to play out the remainder of the 2019/20 season, Rugby officials are working towards a return to the pitch, while also ensuring the safety of players and staff.
World Rugby’s chief medical officer, Dr Éanna Falvey, expects to see competitive rugby before the end of 2020, and also expressed his disappointment that players can't make an earlier return.
Player safety
“I would be very surprised if there isn’t some competitive rugby before the end of the year,” said Falvey, speaking to The Irish Times.
"I wouldn’t be surprised if there isn’t quite a bit of competitive rugby and I would say that we are probably going to get cleverer in how we can monitor players.”
"We’re at a very early stage in this, and as the testing gets better it may well be that we can be a lot surer about how disease-free squads are, and if you can get teams together and limit the exposure, you may well be able to have quite a good deal of competitive rugby with a very low risk. And this is about mitigating risk. That’s the primary objective.”
Behind-closed-doors
Ulster Rugby’s chief Jonny Petrie believes that the Pro14 will return behind-closed-doors as planned, in August or September.
Speaking to BBC Radio Ulster's Sportsound Extra-Time, Petrie stated that rugby must make a return, aligned with the social distancing measures that remain in place.
"The reality is that it’s going to be behind closed doors or certainly restricted crowds for quite some period of time,” said Petrie.
“When I look back at the big nights at Kingspan Stadium, with 18,000 packed into the stands and the terraces, seeing that again feels like it’s quite a long time away."
