Rugby has joined every other event and been kicked into touch.
The country was suddenly plunged into Covid-19 Alert Level 4 just before midnight on Tuesday.
That left sports administrators scrambling to hastily rearrange the season.
New Zealand Rugby made the only decision available and that was to postpone all rugby this weekend.
That means Otago’s NPC match against Northland in Whangarei on Sunday and the Spirit’s away match against Bay of Plenty on Saturday will need to be rescheduled.
The obvious solution is to move those games to the end of the round robin and push back the playoffs by a week.
However, NZR has not confirmed when those games will take place.
All community rugby is also off. It is up to the provinces to decide whether those games will be cancelled or postponed.
Otago Rugby Football Union general manager Richard Kinley said all anyone could do was wait for the next Government announcement and hope for the best after the initial three-day lockdown.
‘‘Obviously, at Level 3 we can’t play rugby, so we’d need to go to Level 2, which is a best-case scenario,’’ he said.
“We can’t have crowds but at least we could still continue to play.
‘‘The next few days are going to be a holding pattern just to wait and see.’’
Should the lockdown period be extended beyond its current span, that would present some challenges to get players back up to speed, and perhaps a lead-in period like that in Super Rugby would be required, Kinley suggested.
The NPC final is scheduled for October 23. That will probably be pushed back but Kinley said a decision on how long the playing window could be extended had not been made.
The Heartland Championship was set get under way on Saturday but will obviously hit the pause button as well.
North Otago was slated to play old enemy South Canterbury in Oamaru.
North Otago Rugby Football Union chief executive Colin Jackson indicated the first round of games would be tacked on to the end of the round robin.
The Old Golds’ season opener will now be against Buller in Westport on August 28, dependent on the Government lifting the current restrictions.
Dunstan High School was scheduled to host South Otago High School in an Otago regional co-educational playoff match today.
That game has been postponed. Otago Secondary School Rugby Council chairman Greg Heller said no decision had been made on the future of that fixture.
Everybody is in the same position. Until it becomes clear how long Level 4 remains in place, it is impossible to plan for the future.
NZR general manager of community rugby Steve Lancaster said the decision to postpone all rugby had been made in consultation with provincial unions and the players’ association, in the interests of wider public safety.
“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,’’ Lancaster said.
NZR would review the status of all competitions after the Government’s next Covid update.
