As another weekend passed us by (which would have been Round 9), we are excited to have some firm dates for the commencement and Finals for our 2020 season.
 
After working with our clubs on a regular basis, including an important Zoom meeting last Wednesday, all Clubs have informed SIRU of their teams for 2020. Since this information has come through, a Calendar has been drawn up.
The 2020 SIRU Senior Competition will commence on Saturday 25th July.
SIRU will play host to 18 teams in total across three grades, Total Ag Solutions-Kubota 1st Grade, Aon Women’s Xs and Romano’s Hotel 2nd Grade.
Please see the list below for further details.
The Grand Finals for all three of these grades will be held on Saturday 26th September.
 
Given the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, each Club within SIRU has faced its own challenges, but with only one club withdrawing from the 2020 season, SIRU is happy to see the remaining clubs all taking part in some capacity.
 
There is still planning occurring for an off-season 7s series to occur within SIRU, in conjunction with Brumbies Rugby who are planning something similar on alternate weekends.


​Total Ag Solutions-Kubota 1st Grade will be contested by (Kick Off 3PM):

1. CSU Reddies
2. Tumut Bulls
3. Wagga City
4. Wagga Waratahs

 
Aon Women’s Xs (Kick Off 2:05PM):

1. Albury-Wodonga
2. CSU Reddies
3. Hay Cutters
4. Leeton Phantoms
5. WAC
6. Wagga City
7. Wagga Waratahs

 
Romano’s Hotel 2nd Grade (Kick Off 12:40PM):

1. Albury-Wodonga
2. CSU Reddies
3. Deniliquin Drovers
4. Leeton Phantoms
5. Tumut Bulls
6. Wagga City
7. Wagga Waratahs

There has been a lot of recent announcements from the NSW Government, SIRU would like to take this opportunity to update all of our members and supporters on the current timeline based off of these announcements.

It has been exciting that all of our Senior Clubs have been training over the past two weeks, as well as some of our Junior Clubs starting last week, and more joining them tonight by starting training. These training sessions have been conducted under Level B of the Australian Sport and ACT & SNSW Rugby Union Framework for Return to Play.
Well done to all clubs for starting, and thank you to the volunteers within these clubs who have assisted in the preparation and pack down of each training to ensure minimum standards have been met.

Yesterday, NSW Office of Sport announced that from this Saturday morning (13th June), outdoor activity groups can increase in size from 10 people to 20 people.
This means that up to three groups of 20 participants can train on any Rugby Field. This figure includes any coaching staff (For example, 19 players and 1 Coach in a suitably sized square).

1st July has been announced as a start date for Community Sport across NSW, whilst this is exciting, given the contact nature of our sport, SIRU will allow clubs three to four weeks of Full Contact and Full Club training before the seasons commence.
Full Contact and Full Club training can commence from 1st July.

With the above announcement, the current proposed competition start dates of 18th July for Seniors, and 26th July for Juniors are now in play, to be confirmed by the SIRU Board and competing Clubs.
We will continue to work with our Clubs over the coming weeks to finalise all the information relevant to both competitions.

SIRU is excited to announce that all clubs are allowed to resume training as of Monday 1st June.
 
SIRU has been working with a wide-range of Local Councils and other Grounds Managers to make sure all of our Clubs are allowed to resume training before making this announcement.
Clubs will be training under the “ACT & SNSW Return to Play Framework”, this document refers to guidelines set by Sport Australia, Rugby Australia and ACT & SNSW Rugby Union (also known as Brumbies Rugby).

In accordance with NSW Government direction, clubs will be able to train in groups of 10, with up to 6 groups per field.
Training may consist of basic fitness, ball skills (passing or kicking), and use of certain equipment.
There is to be no contact training during this period.
 
Each club will approach their training differently, as the measures put in place by the Framework are quite detailed and comprehensive in terms of cleaning procedures before, during, and after each session.
 
We continue to work with and communicate to Clubs any updates we have in terms of a season and how it may look.
 
SIRU would like to thank the clubs for their efforts over this period of uncertainty, and we look forward to making progress with them as we continue to aim for both our Senior and Juniors competitions to get started in 2020.

RugbyAU have provided a statement outlining the status of insurance for registered members that have been affected by COVID-19.

Statement has been provided below, you can also see further details about insurance for all registered members on the RugbyAU and Aon Insurance website, click here to access.

"COVID-19 Impact on Rugby National Risk Management and Insurance Programme

Players and Officials
A player or official (coach, club official, match official) is not able to utilise the coverage included within the Personal Injury Policy if they contract COVID-19 whilst carrying out their role or participating within Rugby.  COVID-19 is not treated or viewed by the insurer to be a sudden or unforeseen specific event and the Personal Injury cover afforded by this policy is not intended to cover events that are caused directly or indirectly by or attributed to any sickness or illness.

Clubs and Associations
Club and Association officials are covered under the Public and Product Liability Insurance Policy (as per the terms and conditions of the policy) in the event a player, third party or official launches legal proceedings alleging negligence from a Club and/or Association official which has resulted in the player, third party or official contracting COVID-19 and incurring loss, damages and/or costs due to the alleged negligence.
 
To date the program insurer for the Public and Product Liability Insurance Policy has not placed restrictions on coverage for COVID-19."

Brumbies Rugby has confirmed today that due to the ongoing impact of COVID-19, the Brumbies Provincial Program for 2020 will be cancelled.
 
On the 16th of March Rugby Australia postponed all Club and Community based rugby activities until the 1st of May. A further statement from Rugby Australia on April 3 extended the postponement period until at least the 1st of June.
 
However, given the ongoing impact of the global pandemic and continued restrictions in line with government guidelines, the 2020 Brumbies Provincial Program that was scheduled to commence in June will be cancelled as the Community Rugby team continue their plans to conduct meaningful club competitions within the ACT & SNSW region as soon as it can be safely done so.
 
The Brumbies Provincial Program provides opportunities for local players from the South Coast, Monaro and Southern Inland regions to commence their representative journey and encompasses the annual clashes between the respective representative teams of the Brumbies Rugby country regions and culminates in the recently introduced ‘Capital Cup’ tournament when the Brumbies Provincial Team competes against the ACT Griffins (John I Dent Cup non-contracted 1st grade players) and the Brumbies U19 representative team. 
 
Craig Leseberg, Brumbies Rugby Deputy CEO & General Manager of Community Rugby, stated: “Whilst naturally there will be disappointment that we have had to make the decision to cancel the Brumbies Provincial Program for 2020, this decision has been made following continued assessment of the current COVID-19 situation, financial considerations and shifting priorities. The decision has been timed to ensure there is some certainty amongst key stakeholders including our three regional zones and their participating teams’.
 
“Our focus will be to continue our modelling and planning to ensure that once the situation allows we are in a position as a Union to administer meaningful competitions for all our clubs and teams to participate in for the balance of 2020. The recent National Cabinet endorsement and release of the AIS framework for the reintroduction of sport in Australia has provided a vastly more positive outlook”
 
“We thank everyone for their understanding and look forward to returning to a rugby field at some point soon, in the meantime, we urge all our club rugby players, volunteers and supporters to remain patient and look after themselves, their families and local community through this difficult period.”
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