Clubs decide to call off fixtures

THE suspension of Scottish domestic rugby has come into force with the Premiership just four games away from completion of its regular season. Two of those games – Edinburgh Accies against Currie Chieftains and Marr versus Hawick – were due to be played today, but after some uncertainty were both called off late afternoon yesterday.

The announcement of the suspension by the SRU, made at 2pm yesterday, said it would begin at 6pm tomorrow, meaning the matches at Raeburn Place and Fullarton were still on. But first Hawick said they would not travel to Ayrshire, and then Accies decided that their fixture would not go ahead either.

“We have taken the decision to withdraw from tomorrow’s match v Marr in the interests of safety and our duty of care to our players, coaches, support staff and supporters,” Hawick president Rory Bannerman said via the club’s Twitter account.

A short statement on the Accies website said they had postponed their game after determining that they would not be penalised for doing so.

“Regrettably we have taken the decision not to play tomorrow on health grounds, in order to protect our squad and our members,” it said. “We await further information from Scottish Rugby as the situation evolves. However, we have been assured that EAFC [and other clubs who have taken a similar stance] will not be penalised.”

Accies sit bottom of the table, five points adrift of Glasgow Hawks. Even if they had played and lost to the Chieftains today, they would not have been officially relegated, but it would have left them needing a bonuspoint win over Marr plus a Hawks loss to Hawick with no bonus.

That would see both the Edinburgh and Glasgow club finish on 21 points and points difference being the deciding factor, with Accies’ currently 12 better than Hawks’.

At the other end of the table, Marr, Currie, Hawick and Selkirk are already in the play-offs.