South African Minister of Sport and Arts & Culture Vusumuzi Mkhize has confirmed that while professional non-contact sports can resume next week as the country goes to level 3, contact sports will have to wait until level 1.
This comes after South African sports minister Nathi Mthethwa confirmed that athletes may return to non-contact training next week in a major boost for South African sports entities.
The allowance is only for those playing professionally whose income depends on the sport rather than recreational sportspeople.
The future of Super Rugby currently hangs in the balance with various reports circulating that Australia and New Zealand want to exclude South Africa from the competition permanently moving forward.
In New Zealand, Super Rugby teams have returned to training as they prepare to resume the season behind closed doors.
It looks unlikely that any Super Rugby will be played in South Africa this year with the Springboks best chance of playing international rugby coming in the proposal to have the Rugby Championship staged entirely in Australia.
Along with the player departures, the COVID-19 pandemic is having a landmark effect on South African rugby less than 12 months since they lifted the Web Ellis Trophy and it looks like there is a yet a long and tricky road ahead for Saru.