Last week, in a slightly humorous way, we summed up the last year in Polish rugby in alphabetical order. Being more serious – a lot has happened, it blew up optimism for the future, especially thanks to the good results of the national team, which is one step away from promotion to the championship, that is, the second division of European rugby.

In order to take it one step further, the Polish Rugby Union (hereafter PZR) announced a competition for a sports director, and was obligated to do so by decision of the League’s Board of Directors on 14 December. Bids must be submitted by the end of January 2022 and the competition will be decided by mid-February. Candidates can be both Polish and foreign, so PZR has announced the competition in English as well. We will not burden readers with the details of this competition, the announcement contains the tasks, objectives and requirements of potential candidates, details can be found You are.

Why did PZR take this form of sports director choice?

– Follows the requirements of the Ministry of Sports and Tourism, where the job will be financed m in. Specifically from the Ministry’s funds – explains Bartosz Rio, a member of the Polish rugby union board of directors.

Knowing the rugby community in Poland, the topic of competition for the position of sports director will heat them up in the red. Regarding the hot weather and climate – there was a very advanced plan for the national team to go to a winter training camp in warm countries, which is Turkey. Sparring matches were scheduled there, among others with the Russia national team that played the 2019 World Cup.

It will be a return for the near future, for example to 2013, when the team under the selection team led by Marek Ponca, among others, played in Sri Lanka with Madagascar. Unfortunately, the time of the pandemic is not conducive to travel, as there are special restrictions in the British Isles, which is where the director’s crew, Chris Heat and several key players come in. In such a case, the national option was chosen. The training camp will take place at the end of January 2022 in Gdansk.

– Invitations will be sent to a large group of players, the question is whether the epidemic restrictions will allow them to come – explains Krzysztof Zajka, Secretary General of the PZR. – It may happen that the training camp will be held among the national players. Most of the players from Great Britain and France are in season, so they will necessarily be ready for spring rugby.

The main points of the national team’s program will be the European Rugby Cup meetings in the spring of 2022 – with Belgium in Brussels on March 19 and with Lithuania on April 6 – possibly in Bialystok. If these matches ended with successful results, then the Polish national team will start next season at a higher level – in the European Rugby Championship section, where its rivals will be, among others Georgia, Russia, Spain, Portugal, Romania and the Netherlands.