QLD Premier Rugby 2021

[D'Lite Full]

In response to the impact of restrictions for lockdown areas of South-East Queensland on the Queensland Premier Rugby (QPR) competitions, the Queensland Rugby Union (QRU) has decided how the remaining 2021 season will proceed and conclude.

In consultation with Queensland Rugby stakeholders, including the nine Premier Rugby Clubs, the QRU Board approved the decision for the 2021 QPR regular season to be concluded for an immediate Finals Series at the earliest convenience to maintain the current Grand Final schedule at Suncorp Stadium.

Throughout the process the principles of a fair and equitable decision, consideration of player welfare, consistency and certainty and consideration of the constraints and no extension of the season unnecessarily were adopted.
This decision entails the following outcome for each grade:


First Grade, Second Grade and Women: Rounds 17 and 18 are cancelled and the competition points for Rounds 17 and 18 are allocated as per the procedure for a cancelled fixture. (points are split between teams)

Colts 1: Round 18 is cancelled and the competition points for Round 18 are allocated as per the procedure for a cancelled fixture. The outstanding Round 17 fixture between Bond University and Brothers will be regarded as a cancelled fixture with competition points allocated as per the procedure for a cancelled fixture.

Third Grade, Fourth Grade, Fifth Grade, Colts 2 and Colts 3: Round 18 is cancelled and the competition points are allocated as per the procedure for a cancelled fixture.

Pending the lifting of the restrictions for lockdown areas of South-East Queensland on the Queensland Premier Rugby competitions, the finals will proceed as follows:

- Lockdown is lifted on Sunday 8th August 2021 – the finals will proceed as currently planned and published.

- Lockdown is lifted on Sunday 15th August 2021 – the preliminary finals will be removed with the semi-finals restructured to a 1 v 4 and 2 v 3 elimination finals. The Grand Final will proceed as currently scheduled at Suncorp Stadium.

- If the lockdown is extended beyond Sunday 15th August 2021 – the QRU will consider the status and options for all QPR competitions.


Amended Points Tables for your reference are available via Rugby Xplorer and the Queensland Rugby website. CLICK HERE

 

[D'Lite Full]

I think all this is a moot point anyway.

My mail today is that QPR will likely call the season finished this weekend if the lockdown is extended, and possibly do it regardless as one of the caveats for a lifted lockdown may be no community sport as the government doubles down its mask enforcement, with community sport being one of the only times majority of people aren't wearing one.

Several factors playing into it but one of the main ones is the future unavailability of Suncorp for finals, as the NRL have apparently forked out to run the rest of their competition from there which would put it out of action until October and cancel the current QPR booking. With only 2 rounds and finals to be played the QRU aren't willing to put the competition on hold for 9 weeks.

FAKE NEWS

 

[D'Lite Full]

Sorry Phil, I see you have a C, an N and another N in your surname. Just like CNN, your mail is junk.

 

[The Nomad]

It’s just a contingency plan at the moment based on if’s and when’s.

No guarantee that IF lockdown is lifted , WHENEVER that might be , that current restrictions will also be lifted to allow community sport.

All QPR have done is released a statement that includes a contingency to complete the season, doesn’t mean it will happen. I’m certainly hopeful that it will come to fruition, but it doesn’t mean what PC posted won’t be the case in the end. He did say IF the lockdown is extended, wouldn’t put that in the “fake news” category.

 

[D'Lite Full]

Yes, fair enough, we are all living with IFs and MAYBEs.

The fake news was about Suncorp Stadium being usurped by the NRL, which is not the case according to the QRU press release.

 

[Cancelled Account]

Giving our boys some guidance and something to look forward to in the meantime. Great stuff.

 

[Bulldog]

Dear All I appreciate that we all love our club rugby - I have come to enjoying it more than watching the Reds/Wallabies - but let’s put this all in perspective I’d rather be in Brisbane than Sydney at present and if the lockdowns stuff around the end of the club season in Brisbane then we just need to suck it up for the good of a greater cause.

Really club rugby v community health and safety - I vote for the good of the community.

Anything else is purely self interest.

I appreciate that COVID is affecting the economy and our way of life but I think we can be better than bickering over possible impacts on club rugby on this forum and all show a bit humanity.

 

[PhilClinton]

Yes, fair enough, we are all living with IFs and MAYBEs.

The fake news was about Suncorp Stadium being usurped by the NRL, which is not the case according to the QRU press release.

Happy to admit that mail was off mate. I think we are all playing on the same team as in wanting to see club rugby played.

The Queensland gov has obviously changed their tune re the NRL ‘bio bubble’ as what I heard was that all games from now were to be played at Suncorp to complete the season. I see tonight games played at the Goldie.

 

[vac]

Yeh I see GPS are seeking clarification over the stripping of the points in 2nd grade as that would have got them into Finals.

Yeah what happened here? Did they get stripped of points or is it a figment of speech?

 

[vac]

100% agree bulldogs; well said.

see club rugby played.

“The Queensland gov has obviously changed their tune re the NRL ‘bio bubble’ as what I heard was that all games from now were to be played at Suncorp to complete the season. I see tonight games played at the Goldor.”

Well that just shows what a duplicitous, divisive, hypocritical leader you have in qld.

 

[vac]

Whilst I made the small political comment above; I must thank her for having 2 test matches at Suncorp. Without it I don’t know whether the Wallabies would have been as good or got the result? See duplicitous!

I want us to have a democratic vote: I put forward that all test rugby be played at Suncorp until they have to demolish the grandstands.

All those in favour say “Aye”.

 

[PhilClinton]

Yeah what happened here? Did they get stripped of points or is it a figment of speech?

Honestly not sure mate, I just saw a GPS social post that they were trying to get it changed

My understanding was they won the game last weekend and those points got them over the line, but a draw doesn’t. See what happens. Either way you shouldn’t have to rely on the rule book to make decide your fate!

 

[Serge]

Yeah what happened here? Did they get stripped of points or is it a figment of speech?

Two reserve grade matches were played and two weren't. The GPS v Wests match affected the final four while the other match played did not. GPS defeated Wests with a bonus point moving them to second place on the ladder in Rugby Explorer. Brothers were due to play Bond where the loser would drop out of the four however the match was not played.
Although GPS played the match and were properly awarded the points by the Competition administrators, those points have now been removed resulting in GPS now sitting in fifth while Brothers and Bond both remain in the four.

 

[PhilClinton]

Reality is you can’t give points for a game when other teams didn’t play. So GPS miss out.

The QRU should have voided the round on the day to avoid this.

 

[Serge]

Reality is you can’t give points for a game when other teams didn’t play. So GPS miss out.

The QRU should have voided the round on the day to avoid this.

No consistency with Colts 1 where three matches were played and Brothers v Bond was not. The Brothers v Bond match has had points shared while the result of the other three matches stand as far as match results and competition points go.

In addition, the QRU did not cancel the reserve grade round - only Hospital Cup and matches scheduled to commence after 2.00pm were cancelled according to their public announcement on 31 July:

Due to the impending Queensland Government lockdown at 4:00pm this afternoon, Round 17 Hospital Challenge Cup fixtures and any other matches that were due to commence after 2:00pm have been postponed.

If this was the only direction (I am not privy to any non-public direction), then any matches due to commence before 2.00pm that were not played were technically cancelled by the Clubs involved and should therefore be treated as such under the competition rules. Matches that were played should not be affected as they followed the public QRU direction and the competition rules.

 

[PhilClinton]

My basic maths says even with the 3 ‘extra points’ from the GPS win over West’s they are still out of the top 4 via for and against

I guess it comes down to whether the teams should have cancelled the games prior to the official lockdown

 

[Serge]

My basic maths says even with the 3 ‘extra points’ from the GPS win over West’s they are still out of the top 4 via for and against

I guess it comes down to whether the teams should have cancelled the games prior to the official lockdown

The first discriminator is most wins so GPS would have had 9 wins and the loser of Brothers or Bond only 8 wins.

 

[Bulldog]

GPS should just take their medicine re reserve grade because from what I hear they could maybe have lost competition points from their game against Easts when they ran a player on for last 5 minutes following an unusual blue & yellow card - they clearly didn’t realise the yellow -they won the game by a point.

Apparently Easts didn’t protest because they actually scored a try in the time the illegal player was on.

These things tend to even out over the course of the season. They would have played Brothers today and if Brothers had played & beaten Bond last week GPS couldn’t have caught them in any event.

Sometimes you need to look on both sides of the fence it is not always about justice for poor old GPS.

 

[Dean Moriarty]

No consistency with Colts 1 where three matches were played and Brothers v Bond was not. The Brothers v Bond match has had points shared while the result of the other three matches stand as far as match results and competition points go.

In addition, the QRU did not cancel the reserve grade round - only Hospital Cup and matches scheduled to commence after 2.00pm were cancelled according to their public announcement on 31 July:

Due to the impending Queensland Government lockdown at 4:00pm this afternoon, Round 17 Hospital Challenge Cup fixtures and any other matches that were due to commence after 2:00pm have been postponed.

If this was the only direction (I am not privy to any non-public direction), then any matches due to commence before 2.00pm that were not played were technically cancelled by the Clubs involved and should therefore be treated as such under the competition rules. Matches that were played should not be affected as they followed the public QRU direction and the competition rules.

I not your comments re : the inconsistency in handling points distribution between Reserve Grade and Colt 1. To note , had they handled things in Colts in the same way as Reserve Grade it would have made no difference to the Final 4

 

[Serge]

GPS should just take their medicine re reserve grade because from what I hear they could maybe have lost competition points from their game against Easts when they ran a player on for last 5 minutes following an unusual blue & yellow card - they clearly didn’t realise the yellow -they won the game by a point.

Apparently Easts didn’t protest because they actually scored a try in the time the illegal player was on.

These things tend to even out over the course of the season. They would have played Brothers today and if Brothers had played & beaten Bond last week GPS couldn’t have caught them in any event.

Sometimes you need to look on both sides of the fence it is not always about justice for poor old GPS.

Fact Check 1: The video evidence proves that the assertion that GPS had an illegal player on the field is incorrect. No 5 was yellow and blue carded and left the field. A fresh player came on and what looks like No 19 went off. No illegal player as two players left the field and only one came on.

Fact Check 2: If Brothers had played and beaten Bond last week then the statement is correct, however it is obfuscation. If Brothers had beaten Bond then GPS would have been in front of Bond on the ladder and in the four going into the last round with their destiny remaining in their own hands. A win over Brothers would have seen GPS in the four and Bond missing out.