USA Rugby has updated its Return to Play Guidelines.

The main changes include links to representatives within the game now that various communities have signed their community agreements. In addition, Stage 4 of the Return to Play schedule now says that coaches and team administrators much wear masks, where previously they were just advised to follow social distancing protocols. The schedule for Stage 4 also now advises teams to follow local government guidelines on approved gathering sizes.

The New Document Can Be Found Here>> 

But the biggest change is that finally USA Rugby has recognized that it misused "inter-squad" in earlier communications and instead should have been saying "intra-squad" at least part of the time. Inter-squad competition means a game between two separate teams. Intra squad competition means a game or scrimmage between players of the same team or club.

USA Rugby has now changed its definitions page to reflect that, and also added edits within the return-to-play schedule that separate INTRA and INTER.

Serious question for those at @USARugby who worked so hard on their return-to-play protocols. When you said "inter-squad scrimmages" did you actually mean "intra-squad scrimmages" because those are two very different things. Words matter. Let me know.

— Alex Goff (@goffrugbyreport) August 4, 2020

The key difference is that in Stage 3 INTRA squad (non-contact) scrimmages are now permitted, and in Stage 4 INTRA squad scrimmages with limited contact are OK, and limited contact INTER squad scrimmages can also take place.