Crowds could come back to Premiership rugby 'really soon'

Premiership Rugby chief executive Darren Childs has suggested that crowds could return to domestic matches in England “really soon”.

Speaking to BT Sport before the first match of the competition’s resumption, he also defended his organisation’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Back in March, Childs had ambitiously stated that rugby could be “the first sport back on TV” after lockdown.

However, he admitted that the need to “rewrite everything about the game in order to keep it safe and keep its integrity intact” had required a re-evaluation.

“If you go back to March, 150 days ago, there was a lot of negativity surrounding rugby and surrounding the Premiership,” Childs said before kick-off at the Twickenham Stoop.

"People were saying the clubs were going under and the league wasn’t going to finish. There was a lot of negativity and, to be honest, I just didn’t see it like that.

“Being in the trenches, I did not see it like that. I knew if I could pull everyone together and get focussed on getting the sport restarted, there was a more optimistic story to tell.

“At the time, back in March, we had a lot to learn about how the virus was transmitted and infection rates.

“We’ve got a unique sport designed for people to be in proximity, so when we looked at all those things it took us a bit longer than we’d hoped. But we’re back and we’re safe and, I’ve got to say, soon I hope we are going to get fans in – very soon.

“We’re waiting for some more guidelines to be issued this weekend around trials to bring fans back in. It could be really soon. We don’t have a specific date, it’s in Government’s hands.”

Childs conceded that his first year as Mark McCafferty’s successor, which included the Saracens salary-cap scandal and the champions’ subsequent relegation, has been punctuated by “a lot of challenges”.

He stressed that he has been pleased with Premiership Rugby’s communication during the pandemic.

"Our job is to deal with facts and come out when there is something important to say,” Childs added.

“My style is to get the right people in the room and around the table, sorting out the sheer complexity of being able to put tonight on, coming to the right decisions and then announcing it and then talking about it – not before.”

Meanwhile, Premiership Rugby confirmed that Wednesday’s round of 956 Covid-19 tests returned seven positives, five from players, across six different clubs – the highest number of positives in seven rounds of testing.