Crouch, bind, all set!

Crouch, bind, set! Well, not just yet. The rugby season is here but with the usual Covid-19 twist.

Though players could start training for their favourite sport again, they had to wait for the go-ahead to start with full-contact sessions again.

The Khosa Senior Rugby players have just gone through their first four weeks of training. This is called Phase One training, where absolutely no contact between players is allowed. This was mostly to get their players back into tip-top shape.

Nico Swarts, Khosa Rugby chairperson explained that now that they’ve done the first stage of training, they’re waiting on the Golden Lions Rugby Union for permission to go into Phase Two training, where player-to-player contact will be allowed.

On Wednesday, 10 March the club received the green light when SA Rugby Communications published a press release, saying that, “Club rugby, from U/19 level upwards, will be permitted to move to contact training (Phase Two of the integrated return to train and play) from Monday, 15 March, provided all players had undertaken non-contact training for at least four weeks”.

As for now, junior clubs and school teams will not be permitted to enter Phase Two, and no amateur rugby matches will be played soon.

Following this announcement, Khosa will start their senior contact training during their next sessions on Tuesday and Thursday, 16 and 18 March from 6pm.

In 2020, the teams were just gearing up to start playing when the first lockdown started. If their Sevens rugby team’s games in February 2020 were any indication of the quality of the players, the team is going to be a force to be reckoned with.

This year they say it’s full steam ahead, and they’ll be working harder than ever to get to the very top of their division.

Right now, Khosa needs to get four senior teams on the field and are open for players to join them. For the seniors, all they need to do is pay their club membership of R150 a year, as their jerseys and a few other items are sponsored. All the extra gear players might want will have to come from their own pockets.

“We’ll always make space for any player, from U/16 and up. Everyone’s welcome,” explained senior rugby president Steve Prinsloo. “Our vision is to create an honest environment where the guys can play amateur rugby on a sincere and transparent level,” he added.

On Thursday, 11 March, the club also started with their junior sessions. From 6pm, over a hundred players filled the field, all ready for training.

The costs involved for the junior division differ slightly from the seniors’, and information for both can be obtained on the Khosa Rugby Club Facebook page or by contacting Nico on 082 454 5357 or Nic van der Schyff on 072 590 0638.