The club rugby season will re-start on June 20 with all grades beginning at the same time after confirmation from the Counties Manukau Union and its Council of Delegates. Covid-19 and the lockdown halted the season after the opening weekend and teams were forced to stop training throughout the past couple of months.
Following advice and guidelines from the government and New Zealand Rugby, the club season will pick up where it left off with round two of the Premier 1 and Premier 2 competitions beginning on June 20 while all other grades will begin their seasons – this includes Women’s, Premier 3, Under 21, Under 85kg and Presidents grades.
Premier 1 will complete one full round of matches before breaking off into pools of 3, decided by the standings at that point, where teams play two other sides and enjoy a bye prior to semi-finals and a final. The McNamara Cup semi-finals are set for September 5 with the final a week later. “We looked at various options, including a two-round competition that would have run much later than normal and a one-round competition,” COD chair Andy Baker said. “Some clubs needed the season to run longer than just one round to avoid players being picked up by Auckland clubs, whose season runs later than ours.“ After much debate, we have come up with a compromise that works for everyone. We believe that there is a level playing field and look forward to a competitive season. “With rep programmes drastically reduced this year we might have an opportunity to trial a few things once the club season is finished as well.”
In an additional boost, a number of former Steelers players that had moved overseas have returned to New Zealand and are likely to play club rugby in the region. Karaka, Patumahoe, Manurewa and Waiuku earned opening round wins in the Premier competition.
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