The Welsh Rugby Union has clarified how the latest Welsh Government [COVID] guidelines, in force from Monday 1 June affect Welsh community rugby – in its latest WRU Status Update.

“Welsh rugby has a watching brief at the moment, but this is a hugely positive position to be in as we develop plans for returning to play.
We will not be the first sport back – we already know that Premiership football is due to return on the 17th June.
Football is probably the closest sport to our own, with its pervasive popularity at a community level and a professional tier which is its driving force and will be an extremely useful yardstick.
We have a huge opportunity to learn in detail about how to create a safe environments for players, virus testing, hygiene and sanitation, matchday logistics, venue management, travel to and from games and general safety for all other involved from referees to other staff and, obviously in the future, spectators.
Even more pertinently, we won’t be the first rugby playing nation to return – New Zealand are currently negotiating their own Return to Rugby Requirements which will lead to fulfilling the first professional fixtures of the Investec Super Rugby Aotearoa on Saturday 13th June, with all levels of club and community rugby below following suit on 20th June.
We will watch and learn and we will be in a better position because of the opportunity to do this.
The PRO14 competition has stated its desire to return in late August, we have not named a date or set any fixtures in stone in Wales because we are of course closely aligned to Welsh Government advice and mindful that conditions must be right – but when conditions are right our current watching brief will stand us in good stead.
The community game in Wales is intrinsically linked to the professional game and it may be natural to assume that when conditions are right for one to return they would also allow the resumption of the other – but we must take great care to treat these two elements of Welsh rugby separately.
We will also learn from precedents set in New Zealand and sports like football at a domestic level, but we are acutely aware that the timeline for the return of community rugby will run a different course.
We all desperately want the current health crisis to be over and for rugby to return throughout the country, but I echo the sentiment of the Sport Wales chief executive Brian Davies earlier this week who said that ‘it is better not to rush and get it right’ and that we must be ‘patient and unified’ at this time.
We have outlined in this update our current message to our community clubs – that community rugby remains suspended until further notice, but work on fitness and preparation can continue locally whilst following regulations.
As Welsh Government guidelines change, so will our advice to clubs, and we have committed to keeping this constant stream of information and good counsel flowing.
But for now, patience and seizing the opportunity to observe other sports and nations who are at more advanced stages of planned returns to action, is the required.
The current modus operandi for all of Welsh rugby, and particularly at a local level, is to watch and learn.
Stay safe,
Martyn Phillips”