Return to Play Update – 12/3/20

Dear TRU / Red River Clubs:

We hope you are all well, healthy, and staying safe, both in mind and body.  As you are all well-aware, the nation and the states within the Red River Conference remain in the grip of COVID-19, and the associated governmental restrictions. Although effective vaccines appear to be on the horizon, the TRU Competitions Committee has concluded that starting league play in mid-January 2021 as originally planned is neither feasible nor prudent.

As such, the Committee has voted to push the start of the league schedule to February 6, 2021, by making the following changes to the schedule published on Oct. 2, 2020:

  1. All league matches currently scheduled for Jan. 16, 2021 are rescheduled to May 8, 2021
  2. All league matches currently scheduled for the Jan. 23, 2021 are rescheduled to May 15, 2020
  3. All men’s league matches (except FTW2 @ Alliance 2) currently scheduled for Jan. 30, 2021 are rescheduled to May 15, 2021
  4. All Women’s D1 matches are rescheduled from Jan. 30, 2021 to Feb. 6, 2021; and
  5. All: (a) Women’s D2/D3 matches set for Jan. 30, 2021, and (b) the Ft. Worth 2 at Alliance 2 (MD4) match, scheduled for Jan. 23, 2020, are rescheduled to various later dates as negotiated by the affected Clubs upon the announcement that Texas is in Stage 5 under USA Rugby’s RTP Guidelines. (All clubs affected by this portion of the schedule changes are Texas clubs); and
  6. The TRU/Red River Championships are rescheduled to the weekend of May 22-23, 2021 (location TBD).**

At present, all of the TRU / Red River remains in Stage 4 under the USA Rugby RTP Guidelines.  In Stage 4, training can be conducted with some restrictions (TRU Stage 4 Extended Guidelines). However, Clubs should not feel compelled to train if their coaching staff and/or administrators believe that it is unsafe to do so.  

We assure you that league play will not begin until after we have been in Stage 5 long enough for Clubs and their players to adequately prepare to resume contact rugby. Although all of us should be doing our best to stay physically fit and ready to fully return to rugby, clubs should not feel undue pressure to train due to a concern that the league season will start without adequate advance warning.

Thank you all again for your patience and flexibility as we continue to adapt to these extraordinary circumstances. We are committed to doing everything we can to return to play in an organized fashion as promptly as we are allowed to do so.

Sincerely,

Dave Dodge

TRU Competitions Committee Chair

**Due to the fact that the vast majority of the country is in the same boat as we are, we do not anticipate there will be a national playoff for the 2020-21 season in the same format as year’s past.  As such, we have utilized the weekend of May 22-23, 2021 as the regional championship weekend.