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Springboks rocked by Covid-19 close call in Brisbane - reports
By Rugby365
The Springboks have survived a Covid-19 scare, according to reports out of Australia. The Sydney Morning Herald reported that the Rugby Championship avoided being thrown into fresh COVID-19 chaos after a member of the Springboks support staff returned a false positive test.
According to the SMH, the Springboks staff member initially returned a positive test and was immediately placed under investigation by Queensland Health after flying from Cape Town to Brisbane at the weekend.
The Australian newspaper reported that the staff member was on the charter flight alongside the rest of the Springboks and Los Pumas squad, who are completing “managed isolation” on the Gold Coast before the first of four double-headers kicks off in Queensland next weekend.
Aviation sources told the Herald staff on the plane had been alerted.
“We have processes in place with all the state health departments who we work with closely in regards to any positive cases on our flights,” a Qantas spokesperson said.
“Managed isolation” allows for players and staff to move between their hotel rooms and training facilities, but sources with knowledge of the situation told the Herald the Springboks and Los Pumas were all forced to isolate on Monday until the staff member completed further testing.
However, Herald revealed that the South African support staff member, who is fully vaccinated, has since returned a pair of negative tests.
A Rugby Australia spokesperson confirmed that the case had been deemed a false positive by Queensland Health.
The two teams will resume normal training on Tuesday.
The scare comes just days after SANZAAR and RA confirmed the final four rounds of the tournament would all be played in Queensland, kicking off on Sunday week.
If the case had been deemed genuinely positive, the tournament would have been thrown into fresh doubt as all Springboks and Los Pumas players and staff would have been unable to train in the lead-up to next Sunday’s matches at Cbus Super Stadium.
Meanwhile, the Springboks have postponed Monday (August 30) and Wednesday’s media briefing until further notice.
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Latest Comments
Look there are a few unarguable facts here that are very clear. SARU was close to bankruptcy with SR, bailed out by the Lions and they need the URC and EPCR. Inclusion of SA teams in URC has been a great for for ALL concerned, from a rugby perspective and financially, moreover there is massive growth yet to come. The GP is in financial trouble and this will be the catalyst for EPCR change to further cement the Boks.
If this all plays out with even greater rewards for the urc AND the Top14 & GP via EPCR, the 6N will become 7N. Nz and Aus NEED to get their version firing with Japan & the PI’s, otherwise they will find themselves increasingly regressing…
Go to commentsPerofeta came back and was available for the eoyt right? Or was that why Love was in the squad (but got injured in the last week)?
It was such a frustrating year. Perofeta looked a service stop gap until Jordan was fit, but then got injured. Plummer was selected because of Pero's injury and dmac shat the bed in the second half in Australia but Clarke (?) got himself binned at the 65 min mark so Plummer couldn't come on (at least with the risk adverse Razors thinking) when he was planned to.
So many other exciting opportunities that could have happened without injuries, but then theyre probably balanced by knowing Sititi probably wouldn't have been given a chance without multiple injuries happened.
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