Stuart Lancaster outlines 'baby steps' to get rugby back up and running

Stuart Lancaster believes rugby will have to take baby steps on its path back to something approaching normality.

The sport has, like everything else, been shuttered by the spread of the coronavirus with domestic leagues, Europe, and the international game all hoping to get through a backlog of fixtures when current strictures are relaxed in various countries.

The possibility of the calendar being wiped for the remainder of 2021 is another possibility but the Leinster senior coach believes that the prospect of games behind closed doors will be a very live one whenever the game does approach a return.

“Yeah, I could see that happening, potentially,” he said from his home in Leeds on Monday afternoon. “There will have to be baby steps to start with. Can we train safely? Can we train in small groups safely? Can we train in larger groups safely? Collectively? Training games? Competitive games?

“My understanding in Ireland is that there are restrictions on large gatherings until September anyway. So, from our point of view, something is better than nothing but, equally, nobody wants to rush that process. We're all aware of the seriousness of the situation in society. We will do what is right for society not for sport.”

Team and contact sports face a particularly arduous path back to the field of play for obvious reasons and none more so than rugby which is such a physical contest across 80 minutes. Lancaster knows that it won't be a case of just flicking a switch and, hey presto.

“That is sensible. Sport will follow a lot of other organisations and government procedures and we can follow other teams in the southern hemisphere where they have less [coronavirus] cases and where perhaps sport will get back earlier.

“There is talk of sport in Germany, soccer potentially. In the UK and Ireland, there will be others from whom we can learn lessons and follow their lead. It wouldn't be wise to come back to the way we were. It will be a steady approach which will be government-led and science-led.”

The task for the sport's administrators is an onerous one given the build-up of games postponed and the desire to still have a full set of fixtures for the 2020-2021 season. Something will have to give and that may yet be the remainder of the current campaign.

That is the worst possible scenario for clubs, leagues, and unions who have so much money tied up in sponsorship and TV deals and for whom the clicking of turnstiles remains such an integral part of their financial model. Ground will need to be given.

“There will have to be compromise from everyone,” said the former England head coach. “I understand the international and the club opinion. Whatever pathway they take the players have to be at the centre of any decisions they make.

“The danger is that everyone tries to put everything into a very small window or into a window that extends for a whole 12-month period. There has to be common sense applied as well.

“The only way we will solve everything is by everyone giving a bit of ground in order to move the game forward. It is also a chance to recalibrate what the global game looks like. This is probably the best chance to do it.”