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South Canterbury’s Kalavini Leatigaga breaks Otago Development’s defense during their 27:21 Heartland Championship pre-season warm-up.
South Canterbury rugby players work ahead of the belated Heartland Championship, which will take place on Jan.
The squad has resorted to taking the uncontrollable factors of a Covid-19 lockout out of the equation and has done “bubble fitness exercises” with players focused on specific areas.
“The guys have done a lot of hard work, especially individual fitness training in their bubbles that is reported to us daily so we can monitor fitness and see what the players are doing,” said coach Nigel Walsh.
Walsh said there is no guaranteed start and they “need a few weeks of training first of all before they start playing games”.
He added that players are excited to play rugby and get into game time with the option of still playing at the table at level 2.
STU PIDDINGTON / stuff
Coach Nigel Walsh said the team’s fitness training had been good and the boys were excited for the championship to start.
Halfback William Wright initially kept his fingers crossed.
“We had a couple of preseason before lockdown and then we went straight into lockdown,” Wright said.
“Since then we’ve been doing a lot of fitness around 4 to 5 laps a week and putting it on our Facebook page just to show what fitness exercises we do.
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“It’s good that everyone is on board.”
He added that the team enjoyed the fitness exercises that came in a variety of verticals like running, weight training, cycling, etc.
“The team looks very promising and we have great guys up front.
“There are also some loan players and really exciting local players and we look forward to the start of the season and hopefully on September 18th.”
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Half-back William Wright said the team enjoyed the fitness exercises during lockdown. Seen playing for the Celtics in the 2021 Hamersley Cup season.
In the 2021 championship, which was canceled in 2020 due to Covid-19, four games have already been postponed at this time.
Craig Calder, CEO of South Canterbury Rugby Football Union, said the team was gutted when the competition couldn’t start due to good preparation and prep camp.
“Since the lockdown, the players can only train individually even under alert level three, each player has his own training program with focus areas.”
Calder recognized the players for raising the bar and challenging each other online and in chat rooms that also featured two players in half marathons.
BEJON HASWELL / STUFF
Craig Calder, CEO of the South Canterbury Rugby Football Union, said they still hope to play a full eight round Heartland Championship.
Calder added that player welfare is a top priority and management would strictly adhere to a policy of not returning to the game for at least 10 days.
“No rugby, including community rugby, will be played until September 17th, which means the Heartland Championship will likely be on the 18th.”
