13 January 2021

Premier 15s set to be suspended for two weeks

The Premier 15s is set to announce a two week suspension in the league due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Concerns surrounding the new variant and no testing in the league has lead the Rugby Football Union to make a decision to have a break, according to The Telegraph.

The Premier 15s is classed as an 'elite' sport but bubbles are unable to happen as the majority of players aren't professional and so have to work another job. In addition, the RFU decided against introducing testing to the league when it returned in October and instead changed the laws of the game to try and stop Covid spreading.

The match time has been reduced to 70 minutes and there are less scrums in games which limits face-to-face contact that the players have.

League bosses are expected to confirm the news on Wednesday and the length of the suspension could be longer than two weeks if the public health situation doesn't improve.

The suspension comes after two games were postponed last weekend involving London clubs following the mayor Sadiq Khan declaring a major incident in the capital. He made the announcement as Covid cases exceeded 1,000 per 100,000 people.

Saracens v Sale Sharks and Harlequins v Wasps were both rescheduled in what is becoming a long list of fixtures that need to be played after being postponed.

The league is expected to restart on January 30.

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