The World Rugby Council recently decided to call off all rugby tours planned for this
summer. The Council has said that these tours have not been cancelled, but just postponed to dates,
which will be decided later.
The main tours that were to take place during this summer season included:
- Scotland’s tour of New Zealand and South Africa.
- Ireland’s tour of Australia.
- England were due to meet team Japan, but they had decided to suspend the match long ago.
- Wales’ tour of New Zealand and Japan.
Rugby has been postponed at international as well as domestic level around the globe due to the
ongoing pandemic. The only exception is that New Zealand may still have some matches at domestic level.
The Council has mentioned that they had talked to authoritative bodies around the globe and after
mutual consultations, have arrived at this decision.
The World Rugby council statement explained that, “Extended travel and quarantine restrictions that apply to numerous countries, and concerns over adequate player preparation time, mean that any sort of cross-border international rugby competition cannot be hosted in July.”
Speaking about this development, the Welsh Coach, Wayne Pivac said, “It’s unfortunate we will now
have to wait a little longer for that privilege, but the occasion will be no less relished when it
arrives.”
Coaches of other teams have also talked about this and have agreed that to ensure the safety of the
fans and the players, it is a better idea to suspend the tours.
