Cockerill was removed from training over COVID scare
Richard Cockerill had his own Covid scare this week. On Monday night, his son had a temperature of 38C. The Edinburgh head coach, following strict guidelines, stayed away from training the following day.
“We took him for a test and thankfully that came back negative, so I was back in Wednesday,” he reported.
A positive test would have seen the former England hooker unable to supervise his team’s preparations for their opening match of the new Pro14 season against Ospreys at Murrayfield on Saturday, and possibly their second match away to Munster next Saturday as well.
“I am the head coach and want to be here but not to the detriment of the team,” Cockerill explained. “We all have a responsibility and the rules apply to everybody. Whether you are me or a junior player or a senior international, there are guidelines you have to abide by and if that takes you out for a day, or a week, or two weeks, that is the circumstances.
“We just have to get on with it. That is where we are at. That is society. If we all think ‘the rules don’t apply to me’, we will end up in a place we don’t want to be.”
Cockerill speaks from experience. Edinburgh have already had a dalliance with the new reality.
Two weeks ago, a day before their European Challenge Cup quarter-final in Bordeaux, it was revealed one of their academy players had tested positive for coronavirus, forcing three other academy players – who had attended the same house party – to self-isolate.
Their actions earned a public dressing down from Scotland’s National Clinical Director Jason Leitch, who highlighted their breach of restrictions on social gatherings – and the protocols agreed with Scottish Rugby to allow the sport to resume – in the Scottish Government’s daily briefing.
“There was an internal disciplinary and action has been taken,” Cockerill said on Friday. “It is an internal matter and I can assure you that those players have been dealt with appropriately.
“We have our own guidelines and guidelines from the government, all of which are hard and fast and pretty strict. Some of our players went outside that and have been dealt with. That was a serious matter and still is. If you are going to be in this professional environment, you have to take the rules and regulations very seriously. You don’t want to put anybody at risk.”
By the time Cockerill took his own son for a test, he already had another Covid incident on his hands.
Scotland flanker Jamie Ritchie went into isolation at the beginning of the week after a member of his family had contact with a potential positive case.
The 24-year-old, who has two young children of his own, is unavailable for Saturday’s Ospreys date, but should be able to resume training by the middle of next week, before the trip to face Munster.
Glasgow have a similar scenario this weekend, unable to call on the services of Scotland prop Zander Fagerson and flanker Tom Gordon in order to – get used to hearing this phrase in the coming weeks – “comply with the necessary Scottish Government Covid-19 isolation protocols and to protect the medical integrity of the wider squad”.
“We are being very cautious around where Jamie’s at,” Cockerill said. “Depending on whether it’s a direct contact, or a contact of a contact, affects the length of time you have to isolate. For some people it’s 14 days, for some it’s 10, for some it’s seven.
“Jamie is a good professional; he has not put himself at any risk whatsoever. This is nothing to do with how he has conducted himself. It is purely bad luck.
“The likelihood is that Jamie has nothing wrong with him and the chances of him contracting it are very, very slim but we don’t want to take that risk. We are being very cautious for obvious reasons, otherwise you take out half a dozen players. Of course it is a frustration but within the grand scheme of things with what is happening with Covid, we have to manage it as best we can.”
It really has been a tough week for rugby in Europehttps://t.co/3PkEIoS9h3
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 2, 2020
Cockerill believes such incidents will become a “weekly occurrence” with all sporting teams, a point illustrated by the latest developments at French side Racing 92 and England’s Sale Sharks.
At Edinburgh, testing occurs 48 hours after a game and no contact training such as set-piece work takes place until the results are returned, so no-one is at risk of contact with an infected person.
As well as rugby training, the club have also taken much of the players’ weights regime and physical conditioning work outside. All team meetings are conducted in Murrayfield’s large corporate rooms, with social distancing observed and players wearing face masks. They must also sit two metres apart when they are having lunch together.
“You just have to be very diligent around it because as we’ve seen, one (academy) player has tested positive and thankfully our process and protocols were so strong that that person didn’t take anyone else out,” Cockerill added.
“The key is that as it becomes more the norm, we don’t start to relax our standards. We have to be very careful over what we do in our daily lives and mitigate as much risk as possible.”
Just when everyone was looking forward to a fantastic Super Sunday conclusion to the Premiership… https://t.co/Ddznum0Scn
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 2, 2020
If only Covid was all Cockerill had to worry about. After the opening two rounds of league fixtures, he will lose anything from a dozen to 18 or 20 of his best players to international calls for eight weeks. Some of them might be released back to the club periodically, although four successive Monday night fixtures during November make the logistics of that arrangement more of a lottery.
“It is certainly different, isn’t it?” Cockerill mused as he reflected on the challenges of the forthcoming season, in which only the first eight rounds of Pro14 fixtures have been confirmed.
“With fixture dates, different days, we don’t know what we are going to be doing post-Christmas, there are more internationals than there have ever been, plus a global pandemic… it is going to be a challenging one.
“We have just got to manage it as best we can and react to what is happening and be flexible. There are going to be changes, good and bad, along the way. We just have to get our best team on the field, prepare them as best we can and win as many games as we can.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Good to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
16 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
7 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
16 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
4 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
4 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
26 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
16 Go to commentsTalking bout Ryan Crotty? Heard Crotty say in a interview once that SBW doesen't care about the team . He went on to say that whenever they lost a big game, SBW would be happy as if nothing happened, according to him someone who cares would look down.. Personally I think Crotty is in the wrong, not for feeling gutted but for expecting others 2 be like him… I have been a bad loser forever as it matters so much to me but good on you SBW for being able to see the bigger picture….
26 Go to commentsThis sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
16 Go to commentsThe rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
84 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
2 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
4 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
16 Go to comments9 Brumbies! What a joke! The best performing team in Oz! Ditch Skelton for Swain or Neville. Ryan Lonergan ahead of McDermott any day! Best selection bolter is Toole … amazing player
14 Go to commentsI like this, but ultimately rugby already has enough trophies. Trying to make more games “consequential" might prove to be a fools errand, although this is a less bad idea than some others. Minor quibble with the title of the article; it isn’t very meaningful to say the boks are the unofficial world champions when it would be functionally impossible for the Raeburn trophy not to be held by the world champions. There’s a period of a few months every 4 years when there is no “unofficial” world champion, and the Raeburn trophy is held by the actual world champions.
16 Go to comments