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Kieran Read and Beauden Barrett denied Japanese reunion as two Top League matches cancelled
By AAP
Two Top League rugby matches scheduled for this weekend have been cancelled due to COVID-19 outbreaks at three of the clubs involved, the Japanese Rugby Football Union (JRFU) said on Tuesday.
A total of 44 players and staff tested positive for the virus, including 13 at Toyota Verblitz, seven at Suntory Sungoliath and 24 at Canon Eagles, forcing the cancellation of their opening matches of the 2021 season.
Toyota Verblitz and former New Zealand captain Kieran Read had been due to face compatriot Beauden Barrett's Suntory Sungoliath while Ricoh Black Rams were to play Canon Eagles.
It was to be the former All Blacks' first meeting in Japan.
The teams have not released the names of those who have tested positive.
Under league policy, the matches will not be played at a later date and will be registered as draws.
The JRFU said last week that games would be played in front of thousands of fans who had already purchased tickets, despite government guidelines limiting the number of people allowed to attend sporting events.
"We deeply apologise to all the fans who were looking forward to the match," Top League Chairman Ota Osamu said in a statement.
Suntory said on their website ticket holders would be refunded.
Last year's Top League season was cancelled entirely because of the pandemic
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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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