Premiership Rugby eyes 15 August return

England’s Premiership Rugby has set out plans to resume its season on 15 August after it was forced to postpone all matches in response to the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.

The rugby union competition was halted on 16 March for an initial period of five weeks, but this was later extended to an indefinite suspension due to the Covid-19 situation in the UK.

Clubs have now provisionally agreed to return to action from 15 August after the league this week also Premiership Rugby said its teams could return to stage one of its return to training programme.

“Nothing will happen until it is safe to do so but we will do everything we can to resume the 2019-20 Premiership Rugby campaign on 15 August,” Premiership Rugby chief executive Darren Childs said.

“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 1, 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.”

Bath Rugby chief executive Tarquin McDonald added: “We welcome this news and crucially can now set timeframes in order to maximise our athletes’ readiness for a return to competition when that time comes in August.”

This week, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport gave the green light for professional sports in England to resume, with horse racing having restarted on 1 June.

Football’s Premier League last week said it intended to restart on 17 June and has since released a preliminary fixture list for the first matches back after the enforced suspension.