Central North Rugby temporarily suspends competition in wake of Tamworth lockdown

Following the seven-day lockdown imposed on Armidale on Saturday, which resulted in only the Gunnedah v Narrabri fixtures going ahead, the zone executive met via Zoom on Sunday morning to hash out a contingency plan moving forward, which they then presented to the club and they accepted.

The plan covered the event of a one-week (Stage 1), two-week (Stage 2) and three-week or longer (Stage 3) lockdown in any LGA within the zone.

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CNRU president Paul King had, when the Leader spoke to him, just sent an email out to all of the clubs informing them that they were enacting 'Stage 1' of their procedures.

Under Stage 1, the competition is temporarily suspended and all games pushed back a week.

"The sensible option for us is to pause the competition for now," King said, adding that it will buy them a bit of space with several clubs impacted by lockdowns in the Hunter region and Armidale.

"We'll then resume as per the program with Round 18 and then Round 17."

The zone had on Sunday decided to proceed with Round 18 as scheduled and play the remaining Round 17 fixtures the following weekend.

The temporary pause will push the finals series back a week with the minor and major semi-finals now slated to be played on September 4 with the grand finals on September 18.

The New England Rugby Union will meet on Monday night to map out a plan moving forward but have suspended this weekend's games, which was also meant to be the final round.

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