Due to continued lockdown restrictions in England, Saints Wheelchair Rugby will not be able to compete in the WR5s competition until January 2021.
Great Britain Wheelchair Rugby (GBWR) has postponed the competition further with a September start no longer realistically possible.
“Please be assured, this decision was not taken lightly,” said Adam Simmons, Regional Development Officer at GBWR.
“Once centres open, we will look to book three dates from January onwards. We will of course keep clubs updated on developments.
“Once we confirm the dates, we will ask clubs to reconfirm their intention to enter the WR5s League.”
Saints Wheelchair Rugby picked up four wins during their debut season in the WR5s Premiership in 2019 – having been promoted from the Championship the year before.
That led to a sixth-place finish in the league standings, and while coach Jamie Higgins was relishing the prospect of another campaign at the top table in 2020, he will now turn his attention to getting Northampton on track for a successful return to action whenever it is safe to resume.
“This is obviously really disappointing news for the whole squad, but we understand everyone’s health and safety has to come first in this difficult situation,” he said.
“We’re all just really looking forward to being able to come together and train as a team again at some point in the hopefully not-too-distant future.
“We’re took big steps forward every time we played last season and I was thrilled with how we fared during out first year in the Premiership.
“We are pitting ourselves against the best in the country, and the way we were training before the lockdown, I was backing us to improve even further this season. We’ll have to work hard before January to get ready for competition, but our players have great character and I’ve no doubt we’ll be back to our best.”
To view Saints Wheelchair Rugby's results in 2019, CLICK HERE.
For more information about getting involved in Saints Wheelchair Rugby, please CLICK HERE or contact Jamie Higgins on [email protected].
To find out more about the WR5’s Summer League, please CLICK HERE.
