The Rugby Football Union has announced that the start of the 2026/27 season has been delayed until, at least, Saturday 26th September due to the prolonged drought that has affected over 70% of the British Isles this summer.

It has been very much a case of “No Water Lane” for Tottonians as the pitches have turned brown in the remarkably hot summer this year, leaving the RFU no choice but to place a blanket order that league matches at Regional 1 level and below will be postponed for a couple of weeks at least.

That means the 1st XV games away at Havant 2nd XV on 12th September and our first home game against Wimborne on 19th September will be moved to a later date – dates to be confirmed in due course – and the 2nd XVs clashes at home to Havant 3rd XV and away to Romsey on the same weekends will also be delayed.

The decision has affected our pre-season programme too with the scheduled home 1st and 2nd XV double header against Longlevens, planned to be on 22nd August, being moved to Saturday 19th September instead.

The club have worked hard to get the pitch back in shape, bringing in contractors to assist with regular daily irrigation of the first XV pitch, which is being overseen by our head groundsman Jeff.  This work has started to take effect but it is far from being able to be playable to a safe, contact standard required.

Our updated pre-season schedule is now as below:

PRE-SEASON UPDATE
22nd August v Longlevens (home) – CANCELLED
5th September v Oxford Harlequins (away) – GAMES ON (4g pitch)
12th September – to be arranged/announced
19th September v Longlevens (home) – GAMES ON at present for the 1st XV (4pm ko) and 2nd XV (2pm ko) with pre-match meal & live band.

The RFU are keeping an eye on the weather and will make a decision about the firm commencement of the league season on 26th September, but this will be dependant on this lengthy dry spell (there has been no rain since the start of July and 0.9mm since 17 June according to southamptonweather.co.uk (Southampton Weather Rain Summary)).  It has already been stated that, should this dry spell continue, they may have prolong the postponement further.

We have been in touch with Twickenham, who are next scheduled opponents on 26th September and they are committed to starting the season on that day.  If their pitch is unplayable, they will either hire an AGP or we will reverse the fixture to Water Lane.

As you can imagine, all of this is very disappointing and naturally frustrating but player welfare and safety is the paramount importance and being ‘match ready’ has already seen a number of injuries sustained on games played on AGP and 4G pitches across the country in pre-season fixtures.

The full RFU statement about the start of the season can be read here …. https://www.englandrugby.com/follow/news-and-media/statement-start-competitive-community-rugby-season