Brumbies prop Scott Sio has thrown his support behind a new scrum clock being introduced for a modified domestic Super Rugby competition to speed up the game.
Sioโs comments came as the Brumbies resumed training yesterday, 11 May, for the first time since the Super Rugby competition was suspended in March.
โIf (the scrum clock) is something thatโs brought in, itโs something weโll definitely have to train and take some time to train for at least a month before we go back in there,โ Sio said.
โSafety is paramount โฆ whatever can help make the game exciting for the fanbase but safe for the players at the same time, weโre all for it.
โThereโs a lot of big injury risk factors at play there but if itโs something thatโs trained repetitively over a period of time, we can definitely manage that.โ
The ABC reported today that Rugby Australia (RA) hopes the domestic competition will begin in July at the earliest, with the organisation still working through the details of the competition and the competing teams.
With the NRL moving toward a 28 May restart date and the AFL looking to recommence competition in June, Sio said the machinations behind restarting Super Rugby were more complicated.
โWeโll be pretty excited to see what the layout is for us there โฆ our sport was always going to take a tad longer, there are a lot of different factors at play, the biggest one being an international competition,โ Sio said.
โAFL and NRL have the luxury of mainly being a domestic competition so itโs about making sure they have to look after whatโs happening here in Australia.โ
Under the first stage of the Federal Governmentโs easing of public gathering restrictions, the Brumbies are training in groups of 10 without any contact for the first month.
Sio said his group will be doing a lot of line work spread across field with a single coach monitoring.
โWeโre all going to find out what we can and canโt do over the next couple of days and create a routine around it.โ
Sio said it was a relief to him and his Brumbies teammates to be back on the training paddock yesterday, with his teammates all saying hello to one another โfrom about a metre and a half apartโ.
โItโs really cool to put all the kit back on โฆ gives you a real sense that youโre starting back up.
โYou draw a lot of energy, even though weโre not right next to each other, even just from being in each otherโs presence there as well โฆ a lot better vibes than this time a month ago,โ he said.
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