2020 Global Rapid Rugby season

The 2020 season of Global Rapid Rugby ended after only one round of competition due to the COVID-19 pandemic and was not continued. The season was launched in February 2020 as the first full home and away Rapid Rugby tournament,[1] following the shorter showcase series held the previous year.[2]

2020 Rapid Rugby Season
League	Global Rapid Rugby
Sport	Rugby
Duration	Season cancelled after one round
Number of teams	6

It featured six teams from across the Asia-Pacific region competing for A$1 million in prize money. On 15 March 2020 the competition was suspended due to travel, quarantine and public health restrictions,[3] before being cancelled on 7 April 2020.[4]

Teams

The following six teams were announced for the Rapid Rugby season in 2020: [1]

Team	City	Stadium	Capacity	Head coach
China Lions [lower-alpha 1]	Rotorua Taupo Adelaide	Rotorua International Stadium Owen Delany Park Coopers Stadium	34,000 20,000 16,500	Mike Rogers [7]
Fijian Latui	Suva	ANZ Stadium Albert Park	15,000 3,000	Senirusi Seruvakula
	Lautoka Nausori	Churchill Park Ratu Cakobau Park	9,500 8,000
Manuma Samoa	Apia	Apia Park	12,000	Brian Lima [8]
Malaysia Valke	Kuala Lumpur Subang	Bukit Jalil National Stadium Stadium TUDM	87,411 6,000	Rudy Joubert
South China Tigers	Hong Kong	Hong Kong Stadium Siu Sai Wan Sports Ground Aberdeen Sports Ground	40,000 11,981 9,000	Craig Hammond
Western Force	Perth	HBF Park	20,500	Tim Sampson

Notes

1. The China Lions, backed by the China Rugby Football Association and New Zealand's Bay of Plenty Rugby Union, were originally scheduled to host three of their home games in Shanghai. One of those fixtures was moved to Taupo in New Zealand and the other two to Adelaide in Australia due to health concerns relating to the coronavirus pandemic.[1][5][6]

Standings

The top two teams in the standings after the completion of the regular season were scheduled to meet in a grand final match on 6 June to decide the championship title.[9] A modified version of the rugby bonus points system was used.

One bonus point was awarded for each of the following in a game:[10]

• a team scoring 4 or more tries;
• a winning team scoring at least 3 tries more than their opponent;
• a team defeated by a margin of 5 points or under.

Four points were awarded for a win and none for a loss. Two points were awarded to each team for a draw.

Global Rapid Rugby
#	Team	P	W	D	L	PD	TF	TA	TB	LB	Pts
1	Western Force	1	1	0	0	+37	7	2	2	0	6
2	South China Tigers	1	1	0	0	+25	8	3	2	0	6
3	China Lions	1	1	0	0	+7	4	3	1	0	5
4	Fijian Latui	1	0	0	1	−7	3	4	0	0	0
5	Manuma Samoa	1	0	0	1	−25	3	8	0	0	0
6	Malaysia Valke	1	0	0	1	−37	2	7	0	0	0
Updated: 15 March 2020 Source: rapidrugby.com (archived)

Regular season

The schedule was announced in February 2020.[1]

Round 1

	14 March	Fijian Latui	22–29	China Lions	ANZ Stadium, Suva
	6.15 pm FJT (UTC+12)	Try: Radroro Raiyala Vota Con: Tela (2/3) Pen: Tela (1/1)	Report[11]	Try: Fuatai Penalty try Tatafu, Little Con: Hollinshead (3/3) Pen: Hollinshead (1/1)	Referee: Cam Stone (New Zealand) [12]

	14 March	Manuma Samoa	27–52	South China Tigers	HBF Park, Perth
	4.10 pm AWST (UTC+8)	Try: Soisoi (2, one pwt) Sao Con: Leuila (1/2) Pen: Leuila (2/2)	Report[13]	Try: Dowsing (2) Watkins, De Thierry (2) Prior, Van de Smit McFeat Smith Con: Hughes (6/8)	Referee: Nick Briant (New Zealand) [12]

	14 March	Western Force	51–14	Malaysia Valke	HBF Park, Perth
	6.15 pm AWST (UTC+8)	Try: Lacey (2) Brache, Taefu (pwt) Bardoul, McGregor Alcock Con: Prior (6/6)	Report[14]	Try: Jaggers Wellman Con: Nel (2/2)	Referee: Tim Baker (Hong Kong) [12]

The remaining nine rounds of competition matches and the final were cancelled.

References

1. "Season One". amazon.aws. Rapid Rugby. 28 February 2020. Archived from the original on 29 February 2020.
2. Blennerhassett, Patrick (1 March 2019). "Global Rapid Rugby and South China Tigers coming to Hong Kong for two games in 2019". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on 9 March 2019.
3. "2020 season suspended". Rapid Rugby. 15 March 2020. Archived from the original on 15 March 2020.
4. "2020 Season cancelled". Channel News Asia. 7 April 2020. Archived from the original on 7 April 2020.
5. "All systems go for Global Rapid Rugby". Rapid Rugby. 25 February 2020. Archived from the original on 26 February 2020.
6. Chadwick, Justin (25 February 2020). "Global Rapid Rugby won't travel to China". Yahoo. Archived from the original on 25 February 2020.
7. "China Lions play warmup GRR game". Rugby Asia 24/7. Archived from the original on 6 March 2020.
8. Airey, Thomas (21 November 2019). "Manumā the "missing link" to get locals to Manu Samoa". Samoa Observer. Archived from the original on 22 November 2019.
9. "Kick-off countdown just days away". Rapid Rugby. 11 March 2020. Archived from the original on 7 April 2020.
10. "Points plus". Rapid Rugby. Archived from the original on 21 March 2020.
11. "Lions surprise Fiji in season-opener". Rapid Rugby. 14 March 2020.
12. Dobson, Paul (10 March 2020). "Referees to 16 March 2020". Rugby 365.
13. "Tigers secure win with late charge". Rapid Rugby. 14 March 2020.
14. "Western Force dominant in Rapid Rugby opener". Rapid Rugby. 14 March 2020.

External links

• Rapid Rugby official website
• 2020 player transfers at asierugby.net