The Reds are due to begin their delayed 2020/21 Championship campaign on 6 March and chairman Mark Morgan is believed to be close to finalising plans for warm-up games against top-flight development squads.
At least one of the fixtures could be staged at St Peter thanks to the UK government’s elite sport exemption framework, which requires teams to undergo regular testing for Covid-19 and would negate the need for quarantine.
‘We’re targeting 6 March as a start date for the new season, which is great, so we will be looking at getting a couple of games in during February,’ Morgan explained.
‘A lot of Premiership clubs are carrying fairly large squads and a lot of their younger, less experienced players aren’t getting any rugby whatsoever. We have had interest from several of them about getting a game in as part of our pre-season but to also give their junior lads a run out.’
He added: ‘We’re quite open to home or away.’
‘We’re covered under the elite sport programme, which is fully operative, so it isn’t an issue under those protocols. We’re working closely with the local authorities here to ensure that they’re comfortable with everything we’re proposing.
‘It is very complex but it is working. Football and rugby has been going for months now under these protocols in the UK and we know it works.’
