Scotland forced to cancel Romania Test after ‘several’ Covid positives
Scottish Rugby still hopes to fulfil the fixture against Georgia in Tbilisi on July 17.
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Scotland have been forced to call off their Test match against Romania later this month due to “several” positive Covid-19 tests being returned in the camp.
The match was due to be played in Bucharest on July 10 but has now been cancelled. All players and staff are now isolating, a statement from Scottish Rugby said.
The union’s chief executive Mark Dodson said it had “every intention” of fulfilling the fixture against Georgia on July 17.
Those players and staff who have not tested positive will embark on a graduated return to training once their isolation period ends.
Dodson said: “Player welfare is paramount in every decision that we make as an organisation, and unfortunately we’ve run out of time to allow our players to recover and train properly for the Romania fixture.
“We’re clearly disappointed, and I feel massively for both our group of players and management, as well the Romanian Rugby Federation, however our squad’s health and well-being must come first.
We’re obviously massively disappointed that we’ll be unable to travel and face Romania next weekend, however it is 100 per cent the correct decision
“We still have every intention of travelling to face Georgia the following week, subject to further medical review and testing, and we’ll hopefully be in a position where a large section of the squad will be able to return to a graduated training regime next week.”
Scotland’s interim head coach Mike Blair said: “As a camp – of both management and players – we’re obviously massively disappointed that we’ll be unable to travel and face Romania next weekend, however it is 100 per cent the correct decision, taking into account the health and well-being of this group.
“It’s clearly been a disappointing couple of days, however, since meeting as a squad over a fortnight ago, the determination and resilience shown by this group has been evident to see, and we’ll move forward with that Georgia fixture very much in focus.”