Four positive tests leave Wasps’ place in jeopardy
Exeter Chiefs may now face Bristol in Saturday’s Premiership final at Twickenham
WASPS have produced four more positive tests for coronavirus to place further doubt on their participation in Saturday’s Gallagher Premiership final against new European champions Exeter Chiefs.
It means the Coventry-based team have now returned a total of 11 positive cases in five days and, as a result, training continues to be cancelled for Wasps players.
A decision on whether it is safe for them to take part in the climax to the season at Twickenham will be made after the final round of testing, the results of which are due tomorrow.
If Wasps are unable to face Rob Baxter’s Exeter, then Bristol will take their place in the final on the strength of finishing third in the league.
“Following an additional round of Covid-19 testing on Saturday, Wasps can confirm that four more members of the playing department have tested positive,” a club statement read.
“Those concerned are now selfisolating, as are their close contacts. After consultation with the medical leads at Premiership Rugby, the RFU and Public Health England, the club will continue not to train at this stage.
“A decision on whether the club will play in Saturday’s Premiership Rugby Final will be made following the results of a further set of testing to be undertaken on Tuesday.
“The club’s Covid-19 contact tracing, measures and protocols, which remain rigorous, will continue to be adhered to.
“Exeter Chiefs and Bristol Bears have been made aware of the situation prior to the public release of this information.”
Even if Wasps are given the allclear to take part in a repeat of the 2017 final, their inability to train since the start of last week causes major disruption to their preparations.
Four players and three members of back-room staff tested positive last week, but on this occasion the sixtimes winners have not given the breakdown of which type of personnel are affected.
It leaves the early hours of Wednesday morning as the fateful moment when they will discover whether the outbreak has escalated or receded.
Premiership Rugby will wait for those results before a decision is made on what should happen to the final.
Baxter, meanwhile, feels that achieving a European and domestic trophy double would be “just reward” for his players.
But the Exeter director of rugby is also braced for a major challenge from in-form Wasps – if they are able to run out for Saturday’s showpiece.
It would be a repeat of three years ago when Exeter and Wasps produced a classic Premiership final that Chiefs won after extra-time with a Gareth Steenson penalty.
Exeter will prepare for the English season’s climax with the Heineken Champions Cup already in their locker.
A pulsating 31-27 victory over Racing 92 at Ashton Gate last weekend gave them a first European crown just ten years after they were promoted from the Championship.
Now, if they go on to land the double, Exeter will achieve something that only three English clubs – Leicester, Wasps and Saracens – have so far achieved.
“It would be just reward, I feel, for this group of players, for what they have committed to over the last five years, if we can do the double,” Baxter said.
“I am hoping that will be enough of a driver for us.
“I think we can play better than we did (against Racing), and we will need to, actually.
“I think Wasps are ready to go, and I think it is going to be a tough game for us, another game when I will be chewing my microphone and cursing and wondering what we are doing, but that’s what finals are like.
“When we had to, we saw it through. We’ve done it at the first attempt, and it is great for this group of players.
“It vindicates what they’ve achieved together over the last four or five years.
“They’ve had a lot of heartache in that time, really, and they have never backed away or not kept fighting for wanting something more. They have taken a huge step forward.”
Exeter have featured in the last four Premiership finals, losing three of them to Saracens, but they overcame any demons from those defeats to conquer Europe.
Exeter and Racing shared eight tries, yet the Chiefs were never behind, despite Racing throwing everything at them in their quest for a first European title at the third attempt.
“It was an emotional game,” Baxter added. “We had control of it, then lost control of it, then we had to fight like we did at the end with 14 men.
“I’ve never seen a group of players work as hard as this group has worked, and if you work hard, you deserve good things.”