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Provincial rugby postponed in New Zealand due to pandemic

17 Aug 2021

Auckland celebrate a try to Alexander Lam during the round 6 Mitre 10 Cup match between Auckland and Tasman at Eden Park on October 17, 2020 in Auckland, New Zealand. (Photo by Phil Walter/Getty Images)

The NPC, Farah Palmer Cup (FPC) and Heartland Championship matches, as well as all community and school rugby this weekend has been cancelled or postponed, New Zealand Rugby (NZR) announced today.

The next rounds of the NPC, FPC and Heartland Championship will be rescheduled to be played at a later date in the competition. No community rugby is to be played at any level however provincial unions and their local organising bodies will determine whether those matches are cancelled or postponed.

The New Zealand Government announced on Tuesday 17 August that Auckland and Coromandel will remain at Alert Level 4 for a period of seven days, while the rest of New Zealand is at Alert Level 4 for a period of three days.

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Under Level 4, the vast majority of the population must remain in lockdown in their homes.

NZR general manager of community rugby Steve Lancaster said the decision had been made in consultation with Provincial Unions and the Players’ Association in the interests of wider public safety due to the latest COVID-19 community outbreak.

“Although it could be possible to play competitions and matches outside of Auckland and Coromandel if the COVID Alert Levels fell to Level 2 before Saturday, with level 4 restrictions not being lifted until midnight Friday at the earliest, we believe the responsible decision is to make an early call and keep people away from our fields and venues this weekend.

“We understand this decision will be disappointing for some of our stakeholders but are confident the rugby community will once again act in unity to play our part in keeping Aotearoa safe.”

NZR’s decision means Round 3 of the NPC, the opening round of the Heartland Championship, and Rounds 6 and 7 of the FPC Championship and Premiership respectively, will now be played at a later date in the competition.

Rescheduled match timings will be confirmed as soon as possible.

Lancaster said NZR would review the status of all competitions beyond this weekend after the Government’s next COVID update on Friday 20 August.

“Like all New Zealanders we will be guided by the Government and health authorities over the next seven days.”

– with New Zealand Rugby

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YeowNotEven 54 minutes ago

Rugby down under could have hit high gear with Anzac Tests

Would have been awesome to have a Bledisloe ANZAC game.

It would suck if they had it in Perth every year though. Gotta get it to Eden park.

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Spew_81 57 minutes ago

Hurricanes vs Waratahs takes: The yellow wall in midfield, Tahs backs outshined

Love should get some time at 10. He’s clearly got the ability to be a second playmaker, but primarily at 15. Some time at 10, even just standing at first receiver, will only help his playmaking skills. He set up two tries with good distribution.

He kicks goals well. He could be a second B Barrett. But keep his main position at 15.

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SG 1 hour ago

All Black's England switch hanging by a thread

England have absolutely no need for him. Tom Willis and Ben Earl are better with a much higher work rate.

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JW 1 hour ago

'Ulster, though no one wants to admit it, isn't much more than a development province right now.'

No full games on the IRU YT channel unfortunately, all on subscription? Looks a fairly good level (1A).

Yes I mean I wouldn’t really know the local ratio of origin here, but certainly as a province with less resources mine has a ratio that veers heavily towards club rep. The club stories are often the best so get probably an imbalanced proportion of coverage to where most players actually come from though.

Those were a couple of Ulster (regional) clubs too, good good. Those clubs/size towns are very much where you find most talent coming from (compared to the big city), so your productivity depends very much on your systems in place for scouting talent. With the more wealthy and popular sport of NRL (hence more info out there) I’ve seen some interesting studies on player origins in this respect, which I think would be a very balanced base of data to draw conclusions from.

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Regarding the Crusaders side . Great to see promising young lock Jamie Hannah back in the starting team. He has certainly been through the mill since debuting for the Crusaders, even before playing for Canterbury. All his hard work has paid off. Antonio Shalfoon , who has been rested for this match has been amazing locking with AB captain Scott Barrett. I really rate Jamie Hannah as one of the best young locks of which there are a few coming through. Including his Canterbury and Crusaders team mate Liam Jack. Father is Graham Jack ,he played for Canterbury and the Crusaders in the 1990’s. Older brother of Chris, who of course was an All Black.

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Andrew Nichols 2 hours ago

All Black's England switch hanging by a thread

Gloucester are in the market for a top-class replacement ..Well why would they then be talking to HS?

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Utiku Old Boy 2 hours ago

All Black's England switch hanging by a thread

I include Cunningham-South. He was born in England but moved to NZ at 4 yrs and learnt his rugby there. His dad was a schoolboy coach. In recent years, Teimana Harrison was - as was Brad Shields.

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GB 2 hours ago

All Black's England switch hanging by a thread

Cunningham-South was born in the UK but raised in NZ.

Makes a good point, wouldn't walk into the English set up.

Better to roll his sleeves up and play himself into the ABs

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Spew_81 2 hours ago

Rugby down under could have hit high gear with Anzac Tests

Not sure what the ethical issue is. If it’s going for the money, it’s either do that or NZ rugby slowly dies as all the better players leave. So it’s the more lesser of two evils. Sell out a bit more as a Union, or the players sell out one by one.

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Spew_81 2 hours ago

Rugby down under could have hit high gear with Anzac Tests

Yes, the team was similar. But the two locks made a huge difference. Kaino wasn’t a lock and Tuipolutu has only very recently started playing close to his potential (his work rate was terrible until recently).

The Irish lineout maul wouldn’t have been the weapon it was on that day if Hansen started Whitelock and Retallick (or even two proper locks). Though they wouldn’t have been guaranteed to win.

Doing the new haka when the Irish were mourning a great of theirs didn’t help. The action at the end of that haka has been interpreted negatively and some see it as a but disrespectful.

Still if the All Blacks did their normal haka they wouldn’t have been guaranteed to win.

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Koro Teeps 2 hours ago

All Black's England switch hanging by a thread

Absolutely no certainty he would make the current English squad. He’s not in the All Black conversation either. Physical, explosive player with ball in hand but sometimes struggles to impose himself fully on all aspects of the game.

7 Go to comments

DC 2 hours ago

All Black's England switch hanging by a thread

Who are the Kiwis (plural)? The only one I can think of is Ethan Root.

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Gradier Walter 4 hours ago

Don't get out over your skis on the Highlanders