THE much anticipated rugby international between the A teams of Scotland and England was dramatically called off this morning after three members of the Scottish squad tested positive for coronavirus.
The match between the two nations’ second tier players was due to take place at the Welford Road ground of Leicester rugby club this afternoon but was cancelled after the positive tests emerged in the wake of an earlier positive test and eight members of the Scotland squad were forced to self-isolate.
The Scottish Rugby Union said that in total three members of the Scotland camp had tested positive for Covid-19. The match will not be rearranged.
The SRU stated: "The entire squad and management team were PCR-tested early on Thursday morning and, with no positive results returned from the playing group, the team travelled to Leicester on Friday afternoon.
"However, following a further round of PCR testing on Saturday morning, Scottish Rugby can confirm that three positive tests for Covid-19 have been returned.
"The three members of the camp that tested positive have started self-isolation as per Scottish Government guidelines, and the Scottish Rugby medical team have since begun internal contact-tracing to determine those that are close contacts, and as such will also have to self-isolate as per Scottish Government guidelines."
England head coach Eddie Jones said: "We are of course very disappointed not to be playing this match and particularly playing in front of a great crowd in Leicester.
"However, we understand that the safety and wellbeing of all of our teams and supporters is the most important thing and we wish Scotland the very best."
The tests will interrupt Scotland’s preparations for full internationals against Romania and Georgia next month, but both matches are still expected to take place.
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