Bristol confirmed

[NellyWellyWaspy]

I see it is all over the sports pages now, and Chris Jones and Chris Foy have tweeted it is off. More importantly, BT have pulled the match from tonight's schedule.

[andermt]

Sale statement

Sale Sharks has worked closely with Premiership Rugby, Public Health England and Public Health North West, the RFU and Worcester Warriors and would like to thank all parties for their contribution during this challenging period.

This is devastating for Sale Sharks, the players and staff with Covid-19 denying the club the chance to challenge for the Premiership title at the final hurdle. Sale Sharks and all involved with the club are determined to come back stronger than ever in time for next season.

The owners are very proud of, and grateful to, the players and staff for the effort that has been demonstrated throughout the protracted season and particularly over this past week.

Sale Sharks would like to thank all its supporters for wishing the club’s players and staff a speedy recovery during these difficult circumstances. They would like to reassure those well-wishers that no-one who has been infected has any serious health concerns at present. The club will continue to ensure that everybody is closely monitored and supported over the coming weeks.

Although everyone at Sale Sharks is disappointed to see our campaign end in this manner, the club wholly understand that the welfare of players, staff and officials is the most important factor. Throughout the last six months, we have followed the official guidelines and protocols given to us by the RFU and Premiership Rugby, with rigorous testing regimes and safety measures in place to protect everyone connected to the game. Sale Sharks is confident the audit carried out by the RFU over the past few days will confirm this absolutely.

Reports over the weekend suggesting our players acted irresponsibly by partying and socialising throughout Manchester after our Premiership Rugby Cup victory are completely inaccurate and untrue.

Health and Safety has always been our top priority throughout the return of professional rugby in England and we have an important role to play in supporting the Premiership Rugby players that have tested positive for this terrible virus.

[Raggs]

7 more positive cases. 5 players.

Hope all infected recover with no long term effects, as I've mentioned here before, even mild/asymptomatic cases have seen heart damage preventing athletes from training.

[AndyL]

Sky sports news suggesting that the results from the Tuesday tests added an extra 6 players and 2 staff to the positive count of people with Covid! The first batch was 16 players and 3 staff members. Slightly worrying breakdown of protocol at Sale. (If there even was one)

[mike909]

Right outcome for what looks more like the wrong reasons.

Either Sale were able to fulfil the fixture last w/e or they forfeit. Why they had this problem is a secondary issue. The protocol on C-19 and the basic decency of fairness in terms of playing all the games at the same time ought to have meant they could not postpone.

I used to have a little liking for Sale and some of their players - but frankly - that's gone. Not that they or their fans will give one! But its a really poor effort from them, regardless of the even worse effort from PRL

Looking forwards to Saturday now!

COYW

[MarleyWasp]

27 positive tests in all is roughly a third of all players and support staff.

One thing I haven't spotted from Sale is an apology to Northampton for the mess they have caused.

[DGP Wasp]

With those kind of numbers then I just don't see how Sale can have been following the rules as closely as they claim.  Even allowing for one false negative mingling obliviously with the rest of the squad for a few days, there are still protocols in place to minimise the risk from someone who is infected without knowing it.

Anyway, that's all for someone else to worry about now.  The right decision has finally been reached.  Would've been better all round if it had been done immediately rather than have the circus of the past few days, but that's what we have come to expect from those who run the game.

NOW BRING ON BRISTOL!!!

[NellyWellyWaspy]

27 positive tests in all is roughly a third of all players and support staff.

One thing I haven't spotted from Sale is an apology to Northampton for the mess they have caused.

Well, in fairness, they may not have had a clue about the pending doom-laden results. So an apology would sound a bit odd. But, maybe best wishes for Piers, and any others that subsequently test positive.

[andermt]

27 positive tests in all is roughly a third of all players and support staff.

One thing I haven't spotted from Sale is an apology to Northampton for the mess they have caused.

With 21 players testing positive, that's over half of them as they have quite a small squad.

[Raggs]

If it's all come from a false negative, then it's a big shame. If the rumours of them having a bit of a party after the prem cup is true, then that's a rather different proposition.

[MarleyWasp]

They were aware of a false negative three days before the Northampton match but didn't retest their squad. They may not have expected so many positives to follow in their squad, but they certainly should have been aware of the potential risks.

[Marlow Nick]

There are three separate questions to be investigated

1. Why was the the first round of positive tests so large (16+3)?
In Sale's defence maybe they were the victims of false negative tests but it still raises the question about players training in bubbles. If Sale were fully compliant with protocol then surely this proves that a single infection can have an "R" of 19 and thus any squad with a single infection need to isolate en-masse and PRL need to issue updated protocols / define tougher rules. Of course the alternative hypothesis is that Sale did not follow the protocols. In which case Sale need to be sanctioned.

2. How could Sale legitimately claim to have a covid-secure squad of 23 for the Worcester match? The 7 new infections demonstrate that Worcester were 100% correct to raise concerns. If the protocols genuinely allowed Sale to pick these players then clearly the protocols are not fit for purpose. How anyone in their right mind could imagine that a prop who played alongside an infected hooker could somehow not need to self-isolate is beyond me. Of course these PRL protocols have not been published so we're all none-the wiser.

3. What will PRL do next to prove how spineless, incompetent and inconsistent they are? There were rules for cancelling matches agreed back in August. The rules were applied to Saints and then a couple of hours later were changed on a whim to allow Sale a different outcome.


I have zero confidence that anything will happen for any of these 3 areas of concern

[Bloke in North Dorset]

If it is Bristol then I wonder how Lam will decide his team selection. He has already said that he is targeting the ECC this season.

iIRC what he was saying was that he wanted his team to,get experience in knockout rugby ready for the European Cup next season. If that’s the case then what better than another SF and potential final?

[HDAWG]

I know some will say "I'd prefer *insert team* to play against..." I had absolutely no preference. Bristol, Exeter, Bath, Sale are all threats and all make me nervous... Since it is Bristol, I'm especially nervous about that backline. If their forwards overpower us we're in trouble... And if they exploit broken play!

[hookender]

Looking at the sardiines (predictive text but I’m happy to leave it in)site on SN it looks like they want Bristol to win whole thing with bath second and definitely not ourselves or chiefs. Well no surprise there but the the one interesting  thing that came up was Pat Lam ruled out a penalty kick/conversion when he was playing for saints against them,which the ref accepted. As he was at Connaught when the ref agreed to their line out after time, I hope whoever is our  captain has more of the refs ear