Rugby union comps eye start

By ROBINSON LEKA
PAPUA New Guinea Rugby Union (PNGRU) is looking to start competitions by July following discussions between officials from the sport’s governing body and representatives from the PNG Sports Foundation (PNGSF).
PNGRU training and education coordinator Sailosi Druma told The National that while the country was in a state of emergency, discussions last were looking to reduce restrictions during the SOE to allow club training to resume.
“At the moment, we are on phase two and in terms of sports, it means that some people can only be allowed to train but it’s only limited to four per group. That means that people can’t train as a team,” he said.
“But they can do personal training or road running.
“So what we’re trying to do at the moment is that we want to request for the number of people gathering from four to at least 16.
“Once we get the approval to go up to 16, then we can resume club training.
“With 16 per group, we can at least be able to start training and preparing for competitions.
“However, the gathering of 16 people will not allow tackling drills or any other contact stuff.
“For phase three, we’re looking at early July which means you can have competition by then provided that all the (sporting) federations are aligned with the Covid-19 protocol that was announced by PNGSF.
Druma said PNGSF chief medical officer Dr Kapua Kapua and PNGRU representatives were developing a Covid-19 protocol for the sport.