Fixtures piling up as Gunners game goes off
Edinburgh are facing a lateseason fixture pile-up after their PRO14 game against Benetton was postponed when a member of the Italian team’s squad tested positive for Covid-19.
The match was due to take place at Murrayfield this afternoon, but was called off at lunchtime yesterday before Benetton had left their base in Treviso.
“The Round 14 Guinness PRO14 fixture between Edinburgh and Benetton Rugby has been postponed,” a statement from PRO14 confirmed.
“The game was due to take place on Sunday, March 7 in Edinburgh, however, one person within the Benetton camp has returned a positive test for Covid-19.
“Due to a concern around close contacts and having considered all of the available evidence, the PRO14 Rugby Medical Advisory Group has deemed that this fixture cannot go ahead as scheduled. PRO14 Rugby will look at available dates from April 2021 onwards to reschedule the game.”
PRO14’S original plan, drawn up to leave room before the summer for the new Rainbow Cup competition, was to have its own league over by the end of this month. Instead of the usual play-offs featuring the top three teams from the two conferences, there will be a straight final on Saturday, March 27 between the two conference winners.
Munster will go through as winners of Conference B, while Leinster held a six-point lead over Ulster in Conference A going into last night’s game between the teams.
The showpiece final was designed to be the last, standalone match of the campaign, but already Glasgow have a rearranged home game against Benetton on the same afternoon, while Edinburgh have a match the following afternoon at the Dragons.
The Scottish teams, whose chances of reaching the final endedsome time ago, also have the third and final 1872 Cup game of the season to find a date for.
There is usually room in the regular season for all three derby matches between Edinburgh and Glasgow to go ahead, but PRO14 cut the third game from the schedule this year, along with a number of other games involving the Welsh, Irish and Italian sides.
Edinburgh cannot play Benetton on the first weekend in April because their last-16 game in the Champions Cup will be played then – they find out on Tuesday who they will play – while the Warriors will learn their opponents in the same round of the Challenge Cup. And if Richard Cockerill’s team get through that tie, they will have a quarter-final to play the following weekend.
Then comes the Rainbow Cup – featuring four South African sides and this season’s dozen PRO14 teams.
The fixtures for that have yet to be announced, but unless it is cancelled entirely, it will be one more headache for PRO14’S administrators as they try to find a date for Edinburgh and Benetton to meet.