Tentative steps back to rugby

AS Thame slowly emerges from lockdown caused by the Covid 19 pandemic, the town’s sports clubs are beginning to tentatively open and begin to return to some sort of ‘normal’.

Chinnor RFC, based in Thame, have begun training in small groups, the senior squad being put through their paces for the first time at Kingsey Road on June 9, in groups of no more than six people. Following the government and Rugby Football Union guidelines, two metre social distancing and hand cleansing observed at all times.

Head of Strength & Conditioning, Daz Oliver and Team Manager Matty Mountford led the first session, with a delighted Daz, reporting:  “We basically got the guys moving. We had a bit of SAQ (speed, agility and quickness) with Matty followed by a bit of barbell complex stuff to get them chucking a bit of weight around again and got them doing some run aways.

“It was literally about getting some volume in their legs because a lot of the lads haven’t done anything for a long time, so we’re trying to get them ready for when pre-season starts properly.

Return to Rugby Road Map

The RFU released their Return to Rugby Road Map for the community game the week before with small group training being the second phase of the six-stage plan. Chinnor are hoping to begin pre-season on July 2 and Director of Rugby ,Richard Thorpe ,was pleased to see players back at the Club. He said: “It’s fantastic. We’re still living in unprecedented times right now. We’ve got absolutely no idea when we’re going to be able to return to playing, but there are things we can focus on and control.

“We’ve put so much work in to the clubhouse over the past six weeks to make sure that by the time we’re actually fully back here as a squad preparing for our first game, we’ve got an outstanding environment for the players to step in to.

“Following the announcement from the government and the RFU, we can now start bringing our players back. We’re now able to get some conditioning through their bodies and start to manage their training loads in order to ensure that when we’re able to get back to playing, we’re going to be ready.”