GETTING THE BALL ROLLING
PITCHES HAVE sat unused for months, studmarks fading over time. Boots have been zipped up in kitbags, the mud from their last outing hardening weekly. Balls have been locked away in store cupboards, slowly deflating.
Yet amateur players across the UK and Ireland are now taking their first steps towards rugby’s return, with the hope that competitive matches will be back at some point later in 2020.
When it comes to getting back into training, one of the key messages is to go slow and steady. There certainly shouldn’t be live scrummaging or a full-contact training game on the first day back. After months without rugby, you need to ease your body in.
Every union has produced detailed return-to-play guidelines depending on their government’s policy, with different variations in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. And these can change as Covid-19 has created a fluid situation.
Over the following pages we’ve put together a summary of what you need to know depending on where your
