Dogged Guinness PRO14 rugby officials are refusing to be beaten by the Covid-19 pandemic and are still hoping to restart their tournament.
However, if the five-nation competition resumes it will definitely be curtailed to compress matches.
Scottish Rugby Union COO Dominic McKay, who is a PRO14 board member, stressed any resumption would be dependent on getting approval from governments.
This is because the tournament takes place in SA, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland and Italy.
McKay told RTE Sport: “We are still looking at scenarios that might see some way of potentially finishing the PRO14 season if restrictions allow later in the back end of the summer or beginning of autumn [in the northern hemisphere].
“And that will definitely be a curtailed end to the PRO14 season.
“We are still looking at scenarios. The PRO14 executive are going to come back to us with an update on what might be possible. But that is entirely dependent on the various restrictions in the different territories.”
Because of the global pandemic the rugby calendar is uncertain, with European nations expecting their summer tours to be cancelled.
The Six Nations and European club competitions are also unfinished.
McKay said: “On the Six Nations, of course we are looking to find ways to reschedule those games.
“We are looking at doing that later in the year if it’s possible, around October/November time.
“But it’s not an easy solve, of course, because we have got two rounds effectively of the Six Nations and some U20 games as well.
“I guess it will be a very challenging conversation but no-one actually has the ability to make decisions on this, entirely understandably, because we need to take guidance from our respective governments.
“I guess everyone’s looking at different ways of when rugby can restart, and doing it in a way that gets the competitions fired up.
“Everyone is recognising the November series includes teams from the southern hemisphere. It just may not be practical for those teams to travel, so there’s clearly uncertainty around that.
“We’ve been looking at a number of different scenarios in respect of those autumn Test windows.
“Until such time as we’re told otherwise, we expect to have New Zealand, Argentina and Japan in November.
“But it would be wrong of us not to give consideration to other options, and that’s what we’re doing just now. It’s all talk as it often is in rugby, but as yet we’re not near any firm solutions.
“The priority is around working with the government and trying to do what is as appropriate as possible.
“At the moment, we’re not looking too far ahead. We’re looking at when can we get our players training.
“So, I guess, domestically every organisation and every governing body is working with their government to do what is appropriate to them. No-one can look too far into the future at the moment.”
Outgoing Glasgow head coach Dave Rennie, however, believes it is time to cancel the season and feels Leinster should be declared PRO14 champions.
The next Australia head coach does not feel trying to resume this season would be fair, given all clubs will lose players and some coaches, too, beforehand.
And he warned against “flogging” players by trying to squeeze the end of the campaign in before next season.
Champions Leinster have won all 13 games and sit on 61 points in Conference A, 20 clear of Ulster and with 14 more points than Conference B leaders Edinburgh.
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