Leeds Rhinos to break for fortnight - but can train voluntarily next week

With rugby league shut down until at least April 3, club staff met yesterday to draw up contingency plans for the coronavirus outbreak and a decision was made to keep the players away until next week at the earliest.

Several staff and players are currently self-isolating after showing some coronavirus symptoms, though that is precautionary and there are no plans for them to be tested. Coach Richard Agar said: “We’ve given the players two weeks off, but there will be voluntary sessions next week.

“If we’ve back [playing] on April 3, which seems unlikely, they’ll have 10 days off and a 10-day lead in. From next week our gym at Kirkstall will be open and we’ll run supervised sessions for gym and cv [cardiovascular].

“We will only allow the players to train at Kirkstall. We don’t want them using public gyms, but Kirkstall has been cleaned and is ready to go.”

With the pandemic worsening there are fears the lay-off could last into June.

Agar admitted: “It is a shame, we are in a good spot physically and mentally and we are travelling all right.

“You have to restart and you lose the momentum you’ve built up, but it is completely out of our hands.

“It is what it is and we’ve just got to get through it.”