Wasps' Premiership final preparations hit by Covid-19 outbreak at club
Wasps’ preparations for the Premiership final have been thrown into turmoil after the club announced seven Covid-19 cases, raising concerns over whether their Twickenham showdown against Exeter will go ahead in just 10 days’ time.
Wasps revealed on Wednesday that four players and three support staff are self-isolating while training for the rest of the week has been cancelled. The close contacts of the seven affected were advised to self-isolate, meaning that more Wasps players could yet be affected.
Premiership Rugby has insisted that the final on Saturday week remains unaffected at this stage but Wasps and league organisers face an anxious wait until the results of next week’s testing, which is scheduled for Tuesday, are known.
The Wasps outbreak comes within two weeks of the Sale fiasco which led to two matches being called off and the Rugby Football Union launching an investigation into how the crisis was handled by PRL.
At Sale, 19 positive cases were initially recorded and an increase to 27 ultimately led to their postponed match against Worcester being cancelled. A similar increase next week could be disastrous for Wasps and PRL.
Postponing the final could be another option but that would be fraught with difficulty, not least because Eddie Jones will expect a number of Wasps and Exeter players to join up with the England squad two days after the scheduled date to prepare for their rearranged Six Nations finale against Italy on 31 October.
Even if disaster is averted, Wasps’ buildup for their first Premiership final since 2017 will be seriously hampered. The four players are believed to be youngsters rather than first-team players but Lee Blackett has been denied access to his entire squad until next week and some of his senior players could be ruled out if the outbreak is not contained.
“Wasps can confirm that seven members of the playing department, three staff members and four players, have returned positive tests for Covid-19,” the club said in a statement. “All seven, who are in good health overall, are now self-isolating and so are their close contacts.
They will continue to follow Public Health England and Premiership Rugby guidelines and protocols. The club has taken the decision to cancel training for the remainder of this week as an added precautionary measure. The club’s Covid-19 contact tracing, measures and protocols, which remain rigorous, will continue to be adhered to.”
Fortunately for Bristol, who were beaten by Wasps in last Saturday’s Premiership semi-final, they received no positive cases and, because those tests were carried out on Tuesday, more than 48 hours after the defeat at the Ricoh Arena, none of their players will be required to self-isolate – in the way that Northampton’s did having appeared against Sale – and miss Friday night’s Challenge Cup final against Toulon. Bristol head to Aix-en-Provence on Thursday afternoon.