No plans to derail Heineken Champions Cup over new variant
Heineken Champions Cup chiefs currently have no plans to postpone games on the tournament’s opening weekend, the PA news agency understands.
Competition organisers European Professional Club Rugby continues to monitor the situation with Munster and Cardiff – and are in contact – after their hopes of returning home from South Africa were delayed following positive coronavirus tests.
The European Cup is due to kick off on December 10, with Cardiff hosting European champions Toulouse the following day and Munster visiting Wasps 24 hours later.
Scarlets players and staff, meanwhile, are isolating at a Belfast hotel after arriving into Dublin from South Africa during the early hours of Monday.
The Scarlets are scheduled to begin their European campaign against Bristol at Ashton Gate on December 11.
Munster and Cardiff also face 10 days of hotel quarantine when they eventually arrive back.
They had hoped to join the Scarlets and Italian club Zebre Parma in leaving Cape Town on Sunday aboard a charter flight after South Africa was added to the UK Government’s travel red list.
But Munster then reported one case of Covid-19, while Cardiff also remained in Cape Town following two positive cases – one of which is suspected to be the new variant Omicron – with both groups having started a period of isolation.
The United Rugby Championship had been scheduled to stage its first fixtures on South African soil over the weekend, but all four games were postponed.
Teams who are unable to fulfil European Cup fixtures face forfeiting the game under strict tournament rules.
Such a stance, though, drew criticism last season after a handful of coronavirus-related cancellations saw teams responsible handed 28-0 defeats.
An EPCR spokesperson said: “We are monitoring the situation and are in contact with the clubs.”
Zebre became the first of the four touring sides to arrive home on Monday morning, and a URC statement later in the day read: “Having helped to repatriate two of our teams, the URC continues to support the two remaining teams in South Africa.
“There is a widespread network of stakeholders working vigorously to ensure the safe return of both Cardiff Rugby and Munster Rugby as soon as possible and keep them comfortable at this time.
“This has been an incredibly challenging period for everyone involved, most notably the players, staff and their families.”
Munster said their players and staff would undergo another round of PCR testing on Monday, with results expected on Tuesday, but Ireland’s sports minister Jack Chambers said the majority of the party are free to travel home after South Africa health authorities had given approval.
Head coach Johann van Graan told Munster’s website: “This has been a whirlwind of a time and we are very grateful to the people in the background who are helping us during this challenging period, and for all the best wishes we are receiving.
“We have one player in a different hotel who is doing as well as possible after receiving a positive PCR result, while the remainder of the group are isolating individually at the team hotel.
“Work is ongoing with all relevant authorities in securing our return to Ireland at a time when safe and appropriate, but for now our priority is to look after our players and staff.”
A Cardiff statement added: “We can confirm that all of last night’s PCR tests have returned negative results. We continue to work with all relevant authorities to secure our repatriation back to Wales.
“The two players who tested positive over the weekend continue to isolate away from the team hotel and remain in good health.”
The gap left by the postponement of this coming weekend’s cross-hemisphere fixtures has been filled by a pair of all-South Africa clashes, with the Sharks facing the Bulls on Friday and the Stormers tackling the Lions on Saturday.
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Skelton may be brought back for the Wallabies so that would be the only reason that may hinder Wilson. Easily the form, most skilful and game IQ of any Oz 8. Valentini’s best and favourite position is 6, but lineouts may be an issue with Skelton, Valentini and Wilson. Will be interesting what Schmidt goes for but for me Wilson should be picked on form. Schmidt rewards work rate, skill and consistency. All that glitters every so often won’t be in contention. Greely is one of those players that has a knack of making the right decision. A coach is going to love him because he knows week in week out he’s going to get the job done. The second try Greely wasn’t the guy who made the initial break it was Flook, Greely was at the bottom of the ruck when Flook was off along the sideline. Greely got up and made the effort to catch up with play but also read the play nicely and hit the pass from Campbell at pace and then held the pass beautifully to Ryan.
Go to commentsSharks deserved to be far further back by the last quarter. Their tackling was awful, their set pieces were disappointing, their defensive organization was poor (especially on the Kok side of the D line), they kept making unnecessary errors, and they never looked like cracking the Clermont defense during those first 60m. Masuku kept them in touch, with some help from the Clermont generosity on penalty opportunities. Agree with the writer of this article. It was belligerence, and ability to raise their pressure game just enough, that turned the last quarter into a Bok-style shutout. Clermont have a reputation of not playing the full 80m, and there was a bit of that for sure. But, quite often when the intensity of a team drops off in the last quarter credit is due to the opponent for tiring them out. At 60m, with the Kok try, you thought that just maybe the game was on. At 70m, with the Mapimpi contribution, one felt that Clermont were fading, while facing a team that would maintain the pressure game through the final whistle. Good win in the end, but the Sharks are still playing way below their potential. And with their resources, and a coach that has had enough time to figure things out, they are running out of excuses.
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