‘COVID CASE WAS A WAKE-UP CALL’
MUNSTER Rugby was given a ‘reality check’ after a member of the wider squad tested positive for Covid-19 last week, according to Peter O’Mahony.
Training sessions scheduled for last Thursday and Friday were cancelled after the academy player’s positive test. The situation provided an unwelcome speedbump in the province’s return to rugby ahead of Saturday’s Pro14 clash with Leinster at Aviva Stadium. And Munster captain O’Mahony said the incident has provided a wake-up call for players and staff at the club. ‘We were all just hopeful that the player was OK and that was the main thing. I think when you’re in the rugby bubble, you’re taken out of reality a little bit and that was a proper reality check for us, that unfortunately this disease is amongst everyone and nobody is immune to it. So it is a reality check for us.’ No further positive results have emerged after a third round of testing at Munster’s High Performance Centre on Monday in a much-welcome boost for the province. Six other players, including a member of Munster’s senior squad, had been advised to self-isolate having been identified as potential close contacts to the positive case. The six players have since tested negative and continue to self-isolate. The academy player who tested positive last week is asymptomatic and also remains in self-isolation.
O’Mahony was complimentary of team doctor Jamie Kearns and Munster’s management for their response to the mini-crisis. ‘The protocol we have in the HPC (High Performance Centre) is second to none. I thought the doctor and the management were excellent, the way they handled it.
‘Jamie was all over it very quickly, all the management had all the protocols that we had to go through and I think we were very diligent about it. But, again, the priority was that the player was healthy and was going to recover fine — that was the initial thought and then we just stuck to the process to get back.’
The incident has not given O’Mahony any second thoughts about making his return after a five-month spell on the sidelines.
The 30-year-old expects similar situations to arise in Irish rugby in the future and believes that an equally quick reaction in the future is crucial. ‘It just shows how important our protocol is here. I’ve no doubt it’s not going to be the last case in Irish rugby over the foreseeable future.
‘You think all the processes are a little bit over the top, but I think we would have been in big trouble if it hadn’t been for our protocol and our processes... they stood to us definitely and it just shows how important they were. Everything from handwashing to the one-way systems to the social distancing in the gym. It’s very different but it’s something that we’re going to have to get used to for a long period by the looks of things. Again, it reaffirmed the importance of it.’
O’Mahony and his team-mates have been learning matchday protocols for upcoming trips to Aviva Stadium. The off-pitch experience in Dublin 4 will be alien for both Munster and Leinster come Saturday, as will the in-game atmosphere.
The absence of the typically raucous crowd for Ireland’s biggest club fixture will be a ‘very strange’. ‘I can’t imagine it will be anywhere normal with regard to the atmosphere... it’s going to be very strange,’ said O’Mahony. ‘But I’m just glad we’re back playing rugby to be honest with you and whatever it takes to do that, we’re prepared to combat it. Look, again it’s for both teams, both sides are going to have to deal with that aspect of it. It’s going to be different but we’re going to have to battle on with it.’
The battle between the two former kings of Europe will commence at 7.35pm if all things go according to plan.
Johann Van Graan’s side have the chance to end unbeaten Leinster’s bid for invincibility in the 2019/20 season. But O’Mahony has stressed the need for stakeholders to continue to be diligent for rugby’s continued return. ‘Each player goes out into the public, on your day off you meet someone for a coffee... if it [coronavirus] is in the community, we’ve got to be very careful, and everybody’s got to be very careful. ‘And guys have got to understand that for us to get back, we have to be incredibly diligent with regard to what we’re doing outside of it — as much as any person in the country or in the world at the moment, people have to understand how diligent they have to be to try and get rid of this.
‘Particularly after last week we understand how important that is and will be going forward.’