The Times Sport - UK (2020-08-01)

It is only a fortnight until professional
rugby returns in England. The long
wait is nearly over and, yes, we’ll be
giving rugby’s restart a proper
drumroll when it is.
So just imagine being a player at
Newcastle Falcons, where you haven’t
got two weeks to wait, but three-and-
a-bit months more.
Newcastle are the club stuck in a
corona purgatory. Mid-lockdown, the
Championship was abandoned and, as
runaway leaders, they were awarded
promotion back to the Premiership.
Yet they cannot be promoted for next
season yet, because the Premiership is
still trying to finish the last one.
Newcastle, therefore, have to sit
and watch the rest of this season.
Their “next” season starts at the end
of November. Their last game was on
March 13, a 41-0 win over Bedford
Blues; by the time they are back, they
will have completed an eight-month
close season.
So while the players of the other
12 Premiership clubs have been
back in training since early June,
at Newcastle, the players are all
still on furlough, as is the entire
coaching staff.
“At the moment, the players are
doing voluntary training,” Dean

Sport

14 1GS Saturday August 1 2020 | the times

CHIT

CHAT

Sport provokes debate and

here is some of the interaction

between our readers and

writers at thetimes.co.uk

The sports minister’s warning

that amateur and junior

rugby union may have to

ditch scrums for the sport to

return sparked a fierce

debate among readers online

Stupid kneejerk reaction

without thinking it through. It’d

have to be touch rugby to rule

out any serious contact but,

while the scrum used to be an

integral part of the game, it

now takes way too long, rarely

gets the ball back into open

play.

Roger Watt

What is the point of

restarting any sport if

the basic rules cannot be

applied? If sport can be

started on a professional

level, why not amateur?

The Ref

Being in a scrum is no different

than being at the bottom of a

ruck or in a maul where the

actual contact time is more. If

you remove scrums, teams will

not field any traditional props,

second row. They will pick eight

back row/centres. Game

changed completely.

Edward Proudler

Not a problem. Football

is coping well. No

handshakes, bodily

contact, high fives or

spitting. Except when

they are playing, at

corners, after scoring

goals, making a goal-

saving tackle.

Ken Essam

They should play sevens for a

while. Lots of fun and good for

skills development.

Longterm sceptic

Surprised that the

government are not

mandating that props

have to lose three stones

and wingers are on bikes

before playing can start

again.

Dave E Bear

Good. That will speed the game

up and make it more

entertaining for spectators.

Mr Andrew Battye

There is not anyone with

an ounce of common

sense who can condone

a return to rugby. It is

the ultimate contact

sport. With cases rising

in many places it would

be pure irresponsible

stupidity to commence

playing the game in

August at any level. No

rugby before September

at the earliest.

Rodney James

Top professional rugby can

put players in a bubble like

cricket. For anyone else it’s

impossible and there can be

no return to playing this year

or next.

Peter Scarborough

Newcastle stuck in ‘purgatory’

as rugby gears up for return

Richards, the director of rugby,

reports. “We have opened up the

facilities for them and it is up to them

whether they come in or not. Some

do, some don’t.”

Richards cannot watch them,

though, because he is furloughed too.

During lockdown he has been helping

out, in a small way, with his former

employers — the police — packing

and unpacking PPE equipment. He

has failed to catch a single salmon —

not for lack of trying — and he has

been doing a lot of cycling, “although

not any distance or speed because

at 57 and slightly rotund, you can’t

go that fast”.

Actually there are four members

of staff at Newcastle who are no

longer furloughed: two physios, one

conditioner and one strength and

conditioning specialist. This has

allowed the club some minimal

structure. No official training is

allowed, but the door of the gym at

Kingston Park is unlocked every day

and the players are allowed to

come and go as they wish. Thus

the strength and conditioning

man is required, from a health

and safety point of view, to

satisfy insurance criteria.

How are the squad all

holding up, in such

extraordinary

circumstances? “I think

they have all been

quizzed out,” Richards

says. Their real

challenge, it seems,

came in June when

other players from the other

Premiership clubs were going back to

training and when, for Newcastle, it

all still looked so far off.

“We hit a plateau at the end of

June,” Richards says, “when everyone

was thinking, ‘The other teams are

coming back.’ There was a bit of envy

in their eyes. I think everyone was a

little bit down, but we’ve got over

that now.

“Once the lockdown was lifted and

they could travel, there were boys

drifting off. Travelling around Britain,

some of them getting to Europe,

getting away and making the most of

it. Some of them have been taking

academic courses.

“I said to the boys, ‘Your training is

voluntary, it is not mandatory. I’d like

you at a reasonable level of fitness

when you come in,’ and I know that

they will be.”

At least they know when that

will be. On August 24, two weekends

after the Premiership has restarted

matches, Newcastle players and

staff will all come off furlough

and get back to work. For

Richards, that date, and the

start of the next season in

November form “the

light at the end of the

tunnel”.

He adds: “We

initially felt the new

season was

probably going to

be the new year,

then people were

talking about a

new global

season, which

may have been

next March and that would have been

even worse. So we can cope with late

November.”

Therein lies a huge challenge for

him or, rather, a triple challenge. First,

he will be taking a club back up from

the division below, which is a

challenge in itself; second, they won’t

have played for eight months; and

third, the opposition will all have had

two months of rugby in their legs.

“That is the worry — that we won’t

be battle-hardened,” Richards says. “It

takes about five games before you get

that edge, that game fitness. I am

slightly nervous and we are trying to

work out how we are going to get

that. You don’t want to be flogging the

players in training and doing too

many contact sessions.”

His best solution is pre-season

games, but he won’t get any against

Premiership sides and will have to

make do with opposition from the

Championship, or the Scottish Super 6

— though no one knows yet if or

when they will be playing

and therefore what kind of shape

they will be in.

When they do eventually get to

the start line, he envisages “a really

interesting season”.

“There are some really good

teams,” he says. “Sale have recruited

incredibly well, Exeter have always

recruited well, Bristol, with the

money they have spent, they have got

to be favourites to finish top. It is an

incredible team that they have got.”

And Newcastle? “We’re good. Like

always, we’ll keep our heads down,

we’ll not shout about what we do and

we’ll get as far up that ladder as we

possibly can.”

Promoted Falcons are

braced for eight-month

off-season, as

Dean Richards

tells Owen Slot

253

Days without a match for

Newcastle Falcons when

next season begins on

November 21. Their last

fixture was a 41-0 win

over Bedford Blues

609

Days since their last

Premiership win (when

next season starts),

a 22-17 victory against

Sale Sharks

11

Rounds of 2019-

Premiership season

still to play (including

play-offs)

The longest wait

Richards joined

Newcastle in 2012

Sinoti Sinoti in

action for the

Falcons weeks

before the

season ended

MI NEWS & SPORT/ALAMY