HOUR-BY-HOUR GUIDE TO THE CRISIS

TUESDAY: Sale beat Northampton 34-14 in their Premiership match in Northampton. THURSDAY: Premiership Rugby (PR) carry out tests on 972 players and staff. FRIDAY 2.45am: Tests results are returned and include Sale talisman Faf de Klerk testing positive. FRIDAY MORNING: Sale ask for a two-hour extension to the midday deadline to register Sam Tuitupou, a retired 38-year-old former All Black centre, and prop Neil Briggs, who left Sale four years ago. Their request is rejected. FRIDAY, 11am: An hour before the deadline for Sunday’s team announcements, PR do not mention the test results but instead release this statement: ‘Following the recent set of midweek matches, we have decided to postpone all team announcements until noon on Saturday.’ FRIDAY 1pm: The Mail On Sunday rugby correspondent Nik Simon exclusively reveals on

MailOnline that 16 Sale players and members of staff have tested positive, throwing their home match against Worcester into doubt. FRIDAY AFTERNOON: The names of the positive cases from Sale are sent to Northampton for analysts to work out which of their players hit the exposure threshold and need to quarantine. FRIDAY 9pm: Sale insist they can still play. FRIDAY 10pm: Worcester statement insists they want assurances before agreeing to play. SATURDAY 11am: PR announce an urgent review ahead of all today’s games. SATURDAY 12pm: Worcester discuss with PR and public health officials if it is safe to play. SATURDAY 3pm: PR announce that Sale’s game against Worcester is postponed until Wednesday. The Sale players will undergo Covid tests on Tuesday before they are cleared to play. Neither club will be able to register new players.