After an 18-month hiatus, the rugby league is set to finally return in October, the Rugby governing body (RFF) has announced. Like other sporting disciplines, Rugby competitions have not been held since the first case of coronavirus was discovered in Rwanda in March last year. The competitions were delayed longer than some other sports disciplines because there were high risks of spread of the pandemic among players due to the fact that Rugby involves contacts when teams are playing between them. Tharcisse Kamanda, the president of Rwanda Rugby Federation, told Times Sport that the team will return to training before the end of this month as soon as the Ministry of Sports gives the federation the green light to resume. Like other federations, the Rugby federation wrote to the Ministry of Sports requesting permission to resume competitions and, in reference to what other federations submitted before they were allowed to resume, Kamanda is confident that Rugby competitions will be back in October. “We hope that they will give us feedback before the end of this week. The teams were informed about the return of rugby competitions and the conditions under which the competitions will be held in compliance with covid-19 preventive guidelines,” Kamanda said in a telephone interview. To resume the competitions, Rugby Africa distributed covid-19 preventive kits to its member federations, including RFF, to use when Rugby competitions resume in their respective countries. “We have given the kits to the teams so that they can use them when they return to action in a few days,” he said. Kamanda said that the teams won’t take long to be back to full fitness despite being out of action for a long time because, before Rugby competitions return, he said, players have been doing individual training sessions in compliance with social distancing as they were waiting for the federation’s green light to resume competitions. The federation plans to begin with the 7 aside series for teams to start competing in regions before a 15 aside series for the 2021-22 season.
