Scotland have been forced to cancel their summer test match against Romania in Bucharest after more positive Covid-19 cases within the squad and staff.
Additional cases to the four that eventually caused the cancellation of Sunday’s A test against England in Leicester and isolation protocols meant that the team would have inadquate preparation time for the test match.
At present, the final test of the summer tour against Georgia in Tbilisi on July 17 is still scheduled to go ahead. But a statement from Murrayfield described that situation as “fluid” and dependent on no further positive tests.
The Summer Tour fixture against @RugbyRomania next Saturday has been called off following confirmation that several members of the Scotland men’s camp have tested positive for COVID-19.
All players and staff remain in isolation as per Scottish Government guidelines.
— Scottish Rugby (@Scotlandteam) July 1, 2021
The decision to cancel was made at the behest of Scottish Rugby’s chief medical officer Dr James Robson.
‘We have several Covid-19 positives cases within the group’
“We unfortunately now have a situation where we have several Covid-19 positive cases within the playing group and management,” he said. “As such we’ve made the correct decision to call off the Romania fixture.
“Simply put, you cannot hurry players or management out of isolation. With the health and wellbeing of the squad very much in mind, we wouldn’t be in a position where we could safely travel to Romania and fulfil an international fixture.
“We’ll now work intently on ensuring the squad and management are able to safely return to a graduated training regime.”
‘Player welfare is paramount’
Scottish Rugby Chief Executive, Mark Dodson, said: “Player welfare is paramount in every decision that we make as an organisation. 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 still have every intention of travelling to face Georgia the following week, subject to further medical review and testing. 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.”
‘It is 100% the correct decision’
Mike Blair, the interim head coach, said both management and players were “massively disappointed”.
“However it is 100 per cent the correct decision, taking into account the health and wellbeing of this group,” he said.
“It’s clearly been a disappointing couple of days. Since meeting as a squad over a fortnight ago, the determination and resilience shown by this group has been evident to see. We’ll move forward with that Georgia fixture very much in focus.
“We’ll continue to work closely with Dr James and the medical team at Scottish Rugby, who will advise and direct us.”