Background: The contact nature of rugby with its` intensive physical interaction often exposes players to a high risk of injury and illness. Compliance with prescribed safety guidelines when returning to play during the COVID-19 pandemic is important for both rugby players and their support staff`s health and wellbeing. However, elite rugby has an inherent level of risk acceptance that has been a cultural norm in the game for decades. This paper aims to identify risk factors that influence players` awareness and actions in relation to the highly communicable disease COVID-19, and provide rugby clubs and associations with practical return to play solutions from a health and safety perspective. Methods: This study thematically analysed interviews with 15 senior rugby support staff employed in elite rugby union that explored key factors impacting health-and-safety in elite rugby. With the emphasis on rugby players` health-and-safety awareness (e.g. illness/injury reporting awareness) and rugby environment micromanagement (e.g. player hygiene) and rugby physical contact nature, analysing the factors that may be normalised in elite sporting settings in the context of managing return to play during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results: Due to physical contact nature of rugby, players are exposed to the risk of trauma resulting in skin abrasions and lacerations etc. which may aggregate the risk of infectious diseases. A level of micromanagement practices such as player hygiene management and health condition surveillance that builds on the current situation are effective and essential, considering rugby players in a high level of fitness condition and at a relatively young age can be overly confident with their ability to deal with the risk of illness. Furthermore, player awareness such as symptom reporting and return-to-play (RTP) after unwellness is due to improve for ensuring their health and wellbeing and of their fellow players as well as support staff during the back to field process in the context of COVID-19. Conclusions: Returning to rugby practice and competition will require a level of micromanagement and player safety awareness education in order to achieve the goal of optimally protecting the players from potential illness and / or spreading it to fellow players and support staff. Rugby rituals such as the New Zealand haka could be considered for keeping social distance between players while affirming the rugby nature of aggression exhibition.
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