Wasps cancel training for week as Covid-19 outbreak threatens Premiership final
John Westerby
Wasps’ preparations for the Gallagher Premiership final have been disrupted after four players and three members of the coaching staff tested positive for coronavirus. The club have had to cancel training sessions for the rest of the week.
After beating Bristol Bears in the semi-finals of the Gallagher Premiership play-offs last weekend, Wasps are due to face Exeter Chiefs in the final at Twickenham a week on Saturday.
It is understood that the four Wasps players who have caught the virus were not frontline players involved in the semi-final but the club will not resume training until next week, by which time they hope to have contained the spread of the virus.
Another round of testing will be ducted at Wasps tomorrow and further positive tests would raise concerns about the viability of the final taking place.
Bristol, who face Toulon in the European Challenge Cup final in Aix-en-Provence on Friday evening, will not need to disrupt their preparations by asking their players to self-isolate. Their playing squad all tested negative on Tuesday.
The four Wasps players are isolating in the hope that the club does not suffer an outbreak on the scale that forced Sale Sharks to forfeit their final regular-season fixture, against Worcester Warriors, last week.
Close contacts of those players are able to return to training after a negative test, overriding the need to self-isolate, but players who have tested positive must self-isolate for ten days and require two negative tests before they can rejoin the squad.
“All seven, who are in good health overall, are now self-isolating and so are their close contacts,” a Wasps statement said.
“They will continue to follow Public Health England and Premiership Rugby guidelines and protocols. The club have taken the decision to cancel training for the remainder of this week as an added precautionary measure.”
Premiership Rugby (PRL) were heavily criticised last week for their handling of the outbreak at Sale.
Despite 19 positive tests in the Sale camp in the week before their final fixture, against Worcester, the match was initially postponed by three days, though PRL had made previous assurances that no games would be delayed.
Sale were then forced to concede the fixture when a further eight positive tests were recorded, ending their hopes of finishing in the top four and qualifying for the play-offs.
Sale’s previous Premiership game had been against Northampton Saints, who later had three players test positive for coronavirus.
They included Piers Francis, who was forced to withdraw from the England training squad. Northampton then forfeited their final Premiership fixture, against Gloucester, as they were unable to field a team after placing several of their players in isolation.
The RFU is conducting an investigation into PRL’s handling of the affair and into Sale’s implementation of test-and-trace procedures.
Last month Leicester Tigers’ European Challenge Cup quarter-final was cancelled after three players from Castres, their opponents, tested positive for the virus.
Racing 92, who face Exeter Chiefs in the Heineken Champions Cup final on Saturday, placed their entire squad and backroom staff in isolation and closed their training ground last week after they recorded nine positive tests.
•The Wasps flanker Jack Willis has been voted the Rugby Players’ Association player of the year after his season of brilliance at the breakdown. Willis was recognised by his fellow professionals at an online ceremony after being shortlisted alongside the Bristol open side Ben Earl, who is on loan from Saracens, and the Exeter fly-half Joe Simmonds.
Topic: Times article on Wasps and C19 (Read 1577 times)
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