What's the plan going forward?
That's the key question being asked tonight by, among many others, sport and those who run it.
The latest lockdown has seen plans for thousands of competitors around the country ruined - from national and regional championships of all varieties, right up to the decision to delay the Women's Rugby World Cup.
World Rugby’s recommendation to postpone the tournament is still sinking in for many with some requesting a re-think about the call and its repercussions, said Rugby Players’ Association’s Rob Nichol.
“We've put forward the idea that they maybe delay the decision a little bit,” Nichol told 1 NEWS.
“We've had players from all across the globe saying, ‘If this was the men's world cup, would they take this kind of approach?'”
Nichol said given all the lead in work around the world, from mainly amateur players, they want all possibilities looked at.
“Potentially if you shifted it out of the Auckland region, that mitigates the risk significantly.”
He added the other option could be to shift the tournament to Australia, given their track record in successfully running tournaments such as the Australian Open, the NRL and A-League.
“Australia has put its hands up when it comes to handling Covid and sports events, they've been incredible.”
In contrast, New Zealand’s sports communities are in much tougher situations.
A host of Kiwi individuals or teams are locked at home because they can't head overseas and return to specialised managed isolation — like the New Zealand Sevens teams, who are off to the Olympics but won't travel to Australia soon for warm-up events.
“World Rugby confirms the World Series is back on starting October, with tournaments around the world as well,” Nichol said.
“The rest of the world is moving on.”
The next major sporting event likely to take a hit is trans-Tasman Super Rugby, which is scheduled to start in just eight weeks.
“If we can't do an Australasian bubble now, when can we do it?” Nichols asked.
“What does the next phase look like, so we can start helping ourselves?”
Sport, both professionally and in the community, no doubt have similar questions echoing throughout.
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