Searching...

Dan Biggar fears ‘step backwards’ in 2022 if Six Nations sees no crowds

12:28 AM

The Northampton and Wales fly-half hopes supporters can attend matches amid fresh uncertainty over Covid restrictions

No sport ushers in the new year free from the worries the pandemic brings but rugby union, perhaps more than most, looks to 2022 with trepidation. The Premiership continues on Saturday with bumper crowds, as was the case for the festive fixtures, but behind the scenes and with the Six Nations looming, key talks are scheduled in the coming days.

The government has not yet seen fit to introduce crowd restrictions to sporting events in England – Premiership clubs are likely to lobby for a pause to the season if it does – but that fate has already befallen Scotland and Wales. The Dragons chairman, David Buttress, has described the move as “devastating” and Wales’s first minister, Mark Drakeford, recently admitted he could not say if the restrictions would be lifted by the time of Wales’s first Six Nations home match in February. In Scotland – who host England on the first weekend of the Six Nations – restrictions have been imposed for at least three weeks and a formal review is scheduled for 11 January. Before that, however, it is understood a key meeting is scheduled for next week when organisers are expected to learn whether contingency plans will need to be activated and Covid protocols tightened.

Continue reading...

from The Guardian https://ift.tt/32OWa79

0 comments:

Post a Comment