Bears wait on Vui and Hughes
Gloucester scrum-half Stephen Varney has tested positive for Covid19 while away on duty with Italy.
Wales-born Varney has been a revelation for Gloucester since rugby restarted in August and his form earned him a call-up to join the Azzurri senior squad ahead of the autumn internationals.
However, the Italian Rugby Federation has confirmed Varney that has tested positive for coronavirus having linked up with the 34-man squad in Rome on Monday, but he is the only one in the squad, which includes clubmate Jake Polledri, to do so, meaning Italy will be able to resume their Six Nations campaign against Ireland in Dublin on October 24.
The number nine, who is asymptomatic, comes from Rhoshill, near Cardigan, but Stephen Lorenzo Varney, to give him his full name, qualifies for Italy through his mother Valeria, with both her parents born in Italy. Varney’s great-grandfather was an Italian prisoner of war at a camp near Newcastle Emlyn.
A judge has ruled against Bath Rugby’s lawyers, who had legally challenged the covenants on the Recreation Ground as unenforceable.
The covenants on the Rec, in the centre of Bath, protects it from developments on the land which may cause a ‘nuisance’, with Bath Rugby – in partnership with the Bath Rugby Foundation and Arena 1865 – looking to build an 18,000-capacity Stadium for Bath on the site, with riverside regeneration, community use and a car park under the pitch.
Despite the Rec already being home to a 14,509-capacity stadium, the covenants on the site are a hurdle to future, permanent development taking place with the east stand currently temporary.
The ruling by Judge Paul Matthews at the High Court of Justice, Business and Property Court in Bristol, published yesterday, means that any future development on the land could be open to a legal challenge from objectors to a new stadium, over whether it should be permitted.