Pro14 season will be curtailed if it resumes at all - SRU

SRU’s Dominic McKay stresses government approval will be needed

The likelihood of Edinburgh and Glasgow Warriors meeting again seems some way off.

The Guinness Pro14 season could still be restarted but the campaign will definitely be curtailed, according to the Scottish Rugby Union.

SRU chief operating officer Dominic McKay, who is a Pro14 board member, stressed any resumption would be dependent on getting approval from governments, not an insignificant obstacle given the tournament takes place in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland, Italy and South Africa.

McKay said: “We are still looking at scenarios that might see some way of potentially finishing the Pro14 season if restrictions allow later in the back end of the summer/beginning of autumn. And that will definitely be a curtailed end to the Pro14 season.

“We are still looking at scenarios, the Pro14 executive are going to come back to us with an update on what might be possible.

“But that is entirely dependent on the various restrictions in the different territories.”

The rugby calendar is up in the air with summer tours almost certain to be cancelled and doubts over the November Test series, while the Guinness Six Nations and European club competitions are also unfinished.

McKay said: “On the Six Nations, of course we are looking to find ways to reschedules those games.

“We are looking at doing that later in the year if it’s possible, around October/November time.

“But it’s not an easy solve of course because we have got two rounds effectively of the Six Nations and some under-20s games as well.

“I guess it will be a very challenging conversation but no-one actually has the ability to make decisions on this, entirely understandably, because we need to take guidance from our respective governments.”

McKay added: “I guess everyone’s looking at different ways of when rugby can restart, and doing it in a way that gets the competitions fired up.

“Everyone is recognising the November series includes teams from the southern hemisphere, it just may not be practical for those teams to travel, so there’s clearly uncertainty around that.”