London (AFP)
Professional English rugby players will not find the training grounds for "at least two weeks", a body of players in the discipline announced on Thursday.
"The group has agreed that (...) a little more time will be needed to ensure that players, staff and managers find a safe environment for training", said Chris Booy, president of the Bristol Bears and the Professional Rugby Council, which is made up of representatives from Premiership Rugby, clubs and the Players' Union (RPA).
"We do not expect (the necessary conditions) to be met for at least two weeks," he added.
While the English football clubs resumed training in small groups on Tuesday and retaining social distancing measures, the challenge is quite different for rugby, where the contact phases are much more frequent and long.
Stopped on March 8 due to the epidemic of Covid-19, the English championship hopes to resume in July to end the season, since the summer tours have been postponed indefinitely by World Rugby.
This project is not unanimous since Leicester coach Geordan Murphy estimated that it would take at least two months to get the players back in shape and that any recovery should be "slow and progressive".
© 2020 AFP