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Benetton bizarrely seal their Rainbow Cup final place with a cancellation
By Sam Smith
PRO14 Rugby have confirmed that the round six Guinness Rainbow Cup fixture between Ospreys and Benetton due to take place this Saturday has been cancelled due to positive Covid-19 cases in the Ospreys squad. As a result of the cancellation, Benetton have qualified for the final on June 19 that will be staged in Treviso.
A statement from the tournament organisers read: "Ospreys Rugby are working closely with Public Health Wales following the latest round of Covid-19 testing at the club, which returned three positive results.
"The decision to cancel the game is a result of the mandate from Public Health Wales that all individuals who were part of the travelling party from the previous fixture are now required to self-isolate in line with public health protocols.
"With no available weekends remaining, the game will not be rescheduled. As a result, PRO14 will use the protocol decided prior to the 2020/21 season whereby a game that could not be rescheduled would result in that fixture deemed a 0-0 draw, but four match points would be awarded to the team who had not been the cause of the postponement.
"In this case, Benetton will receive four match points. This protocol ensures that no artificial scoring points were added to the tries/points for and against columns.
"Adding four points to Benetton’s current total of 18 will provide the Italian team with a final standing of 22 points. It is mathematically impossible for any other team in the table to win more than 20 points, therefore Benetton will be the northern representative in the Guinness PRO14 Rainbow Cup final on Saturday, June 19."
The decision is a disappointing way for Benetton to reach the final but it is in keeping with the maligned way the gimmicky tournament has unfolded. Just last Saturday it was revealed by Springboks boss Rassie Erasmus that the southern qualifier for the final, either the Sharks or the Bulls, will travel without any of the players who were selected in the 46-strong South Africa squad.
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Latest Comments
Nah, that just needs some more variation. Chip kicks, grubber stabs, all those. Will Jordan showed a pretty good reason why the rush was bad for his link up with BB.
If you have an overlap on a rush defense, they naturally cover out and out and leave a huge gap near the ruck.
It also helps if both teams play the same rules. ARs set the offside line 1m past where the last mans feet were😅
Go to commentsYeah nar, should work for sure. I was just asking why would you do it that way?
It could be achieved by outsourcing all your IP and players to New Zealand, Japan, and America, with a big Super competition between those countries raking it in with all of Australia's best talent to help them at a club level. When there is enough of a following and players coming through internally, and from other international countries (starting out like Australia/without a pro scene), for these high profile clubs to compete without a heavy australian base, then RA could use all the money they'd saved over the decades to turn things around at home and fund 4 super sides of their own that would be good enough to compete.
That sounds like a great model to reset the game in Aus. Take a couple of decades to invest in youth and community networks before trying to become professional again. I just suggest most aussies would be a bit more optimistic they can make it work without the two decades without any pro club rugby bit.
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