Rugby Football League trying to salvage Ashes

LONDON: Britain’s governing Rugby Football League (RFL) has yet to give up hope of staging this year’s Ashes series with Australia as it tries to ensure clubs stay afloat during the shutdown caused by the coronavirus.

Australia’s National Rugby League (NRL) followed other competitions across all sport on Monday by announcing its suspension of the current season, with chiefs saying the domestic campaign was being put on hold "indefinitely". That move has led to a big question mark against the future of the Kangaroos’ tour, scheduled for October and November. Matches between Great Britain and Australia are the foundation stone of international rugby league, with this year’s series set to mark the first Aussie tour since 2003. RFL chief executive Ralph Rimmer, responding later on Monday to the NRL’s announcement, said cancelling the tour would be a huge blow ahead of the 2021 World Cup in England. But with the RFL and Super League having shut down their respective competitions, the NRL’s move came as no surprise to Rimmer.

"We were expecting it," he told Britain’s Press Association news agency. But Rimmer said if Australia did not tour, playing matches against other international opposition was unlikely to be an alternative option. "I don’t think that would be feasible because, whatever restrictions apply to the Australians would similarly apply to most of the other teams willing to tour because many of those players would be enshrined within the NRL and UK competitions," he said.