Director of Rugby Alan Solomons spoke to the media today about Premiership Rugby decision to postpone the final Gallagher Premiership match of the season at Sale Sharks until Wednesday after a COVID-19 outbreak at Sale.
Here’s what Alan had to say:
What do you think about the decision to postpone the match?
- The over-riding issue here is the safety of players, staff and their families. Darren Childs, PRL’s Chief Executive, has said safety is of paramount importance and PRL, the RFU and Public Health England have to make sure that they make it their priority when they make their decision.
- Safety is of particular importance here because of the extraordinary number of positive tests at Sale – 16 players and three staff members. That is a red flag to me.
- I’m not a medical expert but this looks to me like a cluster of positive cases rather than 19 individual people testing positive.
- The pandemic has affected all areas of life, not just rugby or sport, but all areas of life.
Northampton, who had to forfeit their match at Gloucester, seem to have been treated very differently to Sale
- Northampton have found themselves in a situation where, through no fault of their own, they were unable to field a team because they had insufficient front row forwards due to a number having to go into quarantine having played against Sale last week.
- They were not given special dispensation to register other players to allow them to fulfil the Gloucester fixture and that has caused them hardship but the proximate cause of the problem is that Sale had 19 positive tests.
- That has also had the knock-on effect of us not having the chance to qualify for the Heineken Champions Cup next season. You can’t say how things might have gone but if Northampton had played and beaten Gloucester and we could have beaten Sale then we would have finished eighth.
Do you expect Wednesday’s match to go ahead?
- We are preparing for playing on Wednesday. We were ready to play on Sunday. We had a captain’s run on Saturday morning and we announced our team at 12 noon on Saturday as we were required to do by Premiership Rugby. Sale did not announce theirs.
- But it was academic because Public Health England said it was not safe to play on Sunday.
- We trained this morning in preparation for Wednesday but the decision on whether the match goes ahead has to be taken by Premiership Rugby, after consultation with the RFU and Public Health England, purely on the grounds of the safety of players, staff and their families – it’s important that we don’t forget the families in this.
When do you expect that decision?
- I’m not sure but it has to be soon. The kick-off has now been fixed for 7.45pm on Wednesday so you would think that the very latest you could make that call is on Wednesday morning.
What communication have you had with Sale?
- Steve Diamond called me on Friday morning and told me what had happened. Since then we have had no direct communication.
- When Steve told me the number of players and staff involved I thought it would be very difficult for Sale to field a team on Sunday.
- Nick Tait, our club doctor, has requested some information from Sale that will ensure that we are fully informed about the potential risks of playing on Wednesday but we have heard nothing back.
- We have asked for information that allows us to be fully informed when a decision is made.
Will you field the same team as you announced on Saturday or will you make changes?
- It will be pretty much the same. The only injured player that might have come into contention was Nick Schonert but he will not have recovered from his head injury in time.
- If the game is played we will be well up for the fixture. We have kept our focus on preparing for the match.
Were you surprised that the match was postponed rather than you being awarded a 20-0 win and five points?
- I understood that when the competition resumed in August, any team that was unable to fulfil a fixture because of COVID-related issues would have to forfeit the match and the other team would get five points.
- That is what happened to Northampton but the decision was made to resolve our game differently.
If any of your players have concerns about playing on Wednesday will they be able to opt out?
- There has always been the option to opt out throughout stages one to three of the return to training and playing processes.
- If someone does not want to play on Wednesday we will respect their decision.
How do you think so many Sale players gave positive tests at the same time?
- I don’t know. What I would say is that we have been very stringent about the measures we have implemented here at Sixways.
- Gené Willis, our COVID-19 Manager, Nick Tait, who is also our COVID-19 Doctor, and Peter Kelly, our Managing Director, have all done a fantastic job in ensuring the players and staff are educated about the measures that have been put in place to keep everyone safe and healthy.
- The boys have been very compliant about social distancing, keeping everything clean and staying in their social bubble. The players have been very professional about the way they have gone about things.
The players were supposed to start a three weeks’ holiday today, how do they feel about having to play on Wednesday?
- It’s not ideal but we have said that they will now get those three weeks starting from Thursday.
Everyone needs a break, physically and mentally, and it would not be right for them to have their holiday curtailed.
Do you think there will be legal consequences whatever decision Premiership Rugby make?
- It’s a big decision but it has to be made for the right reason which is the safety of players, staff and their families, they have a duty of care to do that.
- There are consequences to any decision that is made. Those consequences are wide-ranging and they include legal consequences.