The SA rugby industry has agreed in principle to a wide-ranging plan to cut between R700 million to R1 billion from its budget over the next eight months.

To ensure the post-Covid-19 viability of the sport through an Industry Financial Impact Plan (IFIP), SA Rugby confirmed on Tuesday that this strategy had been agreed in a united plan formulated in discussions including representatives from all stakeholders.

This included SA Rugby, provincial unions, players and rugby industry employees. The plan incorporates the Industry Salary Plan (ISP) which will have a united and collective approach towards salary reductions.

The economies will be achieved by reduced expenditure caused by the cancellation of competitions, cuts in other operational budgets and in salary reductions.

The Industry Financial Impact Plan is scheduled to run until the end of December in the first instance.

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Rugby and Covid-19 timeline

• 11 March: Covid-19 management committee meets for the first time
• 12 March: Guinness PRO14 season is suspended indefinitely
• 13 March: World Rugby cancels the women’s HSBC World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series tournament, due to be played in Stellenbosch on 28 and 29 March
• 13 March: SA Rugby cancels Junior Springbok home and away internationals in April and May
• 14 March: Sanzaar suspends Vodacom Super Rugby for the foreseeable future
• 16 March: SA Rugby suspends all national team training camps and business travel and orders cost savings; postpones kick-off of SuperSport Rugby Challenge with a view to return to play on 25 April
• 16 March: SA Rugby announces actions and issues guidelines on safe practices to all rugby bodies
• 18 March: SA Rugby announces suspension of all rugby until the end of April and that discussions are under way to reschedule competitions to exclude international travel and be played behind closed doors
• 20 March: World Rugby cancels the Junior World Championship scheduled for Italy in June
• 23 March: President Cyril Ramaphosa announces nationwide lockdown to start from midnight on 26 March
• 24 March: IOC postpones the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games to 2021
• 27 March: SA Rugby, MyPlayers (players’ organisation), the South African Rugby Employers’ Organisation (SAREO) and Sports Employees Unite (SEU) confirm establishment of a joint working group to manage the response to the crisis
• 3 April: The rugby industry announces progress on an Industry Mitigation Strategy (IMS) to safeguard the game’s future. Plan to go through approval processes.
• 21 April: Industry Financial Impact Plan to make significant cuts in ‘global’ South African rugby budget confirmed.