Following this afternoon’s Government announcement that the majority of the country will move into Tiers 3 and 4 as of 00.01 tomorrow morning, we wanted to provide a reminder of Tier implications for community rugby for you to be able to share with your clubs and to help with any queries you may receive in the coming days.

Please see below for guidance on what can and can’t be done in each Tier. While these continue to be extremely difficult times for everyone involved, it was a huge boost to hear Government say that today’s approval of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is the single biggest stride we’ve been able to take since the pandemic began and will provide a route out of the crisis.

However, for now, with the new variant of the virus estimated to be over 50% more transmissible than the original, it is vital that we all adhere to Tier and Covid-19 guidance until we reach a stage where restrictions can gradually be lifted.

• Clubs in Tier 3 can still play rugby according to Stage E on the Return to Community Rugby Roadmap Please remember, there is no obligation to play 15-a-side adapted contact fixtures, however it is an option for clubs who wish to do so.
• Clubs in a Tier 4 area should cancel any upcoming adult training/fixtures.
• At the time of writing, rugby activity in Tier 4 areas can continue for U18s (including those who were under 18 on 31 August 2020) and for people with a disability as exemptions are in place. We will advise of any changes if we receive an update from Government in the next few days.
• Government advice on sports activity in Tier 4 areas is here
• For any queries, please visit our Helpdesk FAQs on our Club Support page here
• Resources are also available on our Coronavirus Hub here
• If you are unsure on what tier you are currently in or will be going into, you can find it using the Government website here (Each bullet point listed on the Government website represents each specific area.)

Please see below for a reminder around travel and match play in each tier:

Adult Rugby

• Adult players living in Tier 3 can only travel within their own specific Tier 3 area to train or play. (See above for Government website areas)
• Adult players living in Tier 3 cannot travel into another Tier 3 area (or other Tiers) to train or play (which includes their own club if it is in a different geographic area).
• Adult rugby is not permitted in Tier 4. 

Age Grade

At the time of writing, the following still applies. We will advise of any changes if we receive an update from Government in the next few days.

• Age grade players may, due to Government exemptions for U18s, travel across tiers 1-3 to train or play and can be accompanied by one parent or carer. However, to protect all involved, we strongly recommend that wherever possible training and match play follows adult guidelines.  
• Age grade players in Tier 4 may only travel within their specific Tier 4 area to train or play and may only be accompanied by one parent or carer.

Volunteers

• Volunteers (including coaches and match officials) may travel across Tiers 1-3, where necessary, to enable participation to take place. However, to protect all involved, we strongly recommend this is kept to an absolute minimum. 
• Volunteers (including coaches and match officials) living in Tier 4 should only travel within their specific Tier 4 area to enable participation to take place for U18s ONLY.
• Additional exemptions are in place for people with a disability.  

We will update you when we receive further information from Government and will work hard to enable as many people as possible to return to rugby when it is safe to do so.

While it’s not the way many of us would wish to start 2021, the priority is to keep everyone safe. We wish you all a healthy New Year and will be in touch again soon.

In light of Government’s announcement over the weekend of new restrictions on travel and participation in adult grass roots sport for many areas, the publication of the Cluster fixtures planned for today, 22nd December, will be held over until early in the New Year.

This pause will allow the Adult Competition Management Sub Committee to take on board the very latest Government guidance, which is due on 30 December, before finalising the fixture schedule.

We are keen for rugby communities who wish to play to have this opportunity and hope it will still be possible for clubs in Tiers 1, 2 and 3 to commence Cluster Competitions as planned on 23rd and 24th January. However, we will need to take Government guidance following their review.

Our next communication will be in the Community Game Update on Tuesday 5th January 2021.

Teams in Tiers 1, 2 and 3, may still organise local friendlies ahead of the Cluster fixtures being confirmed, as long as they are within Tier & Area parameters, follow Stage E law adaptations and adhere to RFU and Government Covid-19 guidance.

For the avoidance of doubt, adult community rugby is not permitted in Tier 4 areas. The Government’s Tier 4 guidance states organised outdoor sport for under-18s and disabled people will be allowed. The Government’s guidelines on travel between tiers should be adhered to. These players cannot move in or out of Tier 4 to train or play.

A number of queries have been received about whether CBs can and should be cancelling rugby activity. If the rugby activity is organised by the CBs (such as a county representative programme), the decision as to whether such activity should continue or not rests with the CB. This is in the same way that any organisers of rugby activity can decide at their own discretion whether or not activity should go ahead, provided that such activity remains permitted by the RFU and Government.

However, for rugby activity which is not organised by the CB, clubs and players can continue to participate in such rugby activity provided it has not been cancelled or postponed by the RFU and/or Government.

Kind Regards,
Simon Cruise.
RFU Competitions Department.

On behalf of LSRUR

To keep everyone safe whilst playing the game we love, the RFU have created a number of law adaptions within the normal XV a side game so that we can return to competitive full contact rugby. You might have seen these adaptions posted on social media over this last week.

Although, the society have made it mandatory for their referees to attend a training session on the new adaptions before they return to refereeing. To minimalise contact time of their referees with the players, the referee will not be going through these law variants in person prior to the game with coaches or players. The mandatory training session is so they can apply the laws safely, fairly and accurately.

As a society we would like to invite your coaches to a training session so that they may see what the new law adaptions are and how they are going to be refereed. Please note that there will no information on other covid guidelines for clubs or schools.

The session will be held by zoom on Wednesday 16th December at 7pm. If you or your coaches would like to attend then please email the society training officer; George Richardson and he will send you the meeting details for you to distribute. You will not be admitted into the zoom meeting room unless you email him prior with a list of names so that he may keep the meeting secure.

Please follow the link so you may prepare any questions.

Link to law changes

Link to law video

Kind regards,

George Richardson
Leicestershire Society of rugby union referees Training Officer

e: g.richardson.rugby@gmail.com

In response to many questions about AGR training sessions, our guidance for clubs in Tier 3 is:-

Every AGR player can be accompanied by one guardian who must observe the goverment guidelines on social distancing.