Bath focused on avoiding Covid chaos after Sale Sharks hand their Premiership play off place to the Somerset side after their match against Worcester was called off
- Sale Sharks miss out on play-offs after 27 positive Covid tests in seven days
- Neal Hartley’s side will now travel to Exeter Chiefs on Saturday afternoon
- Bath Captain Charlie Ewels has reminded his team mates of their responsibilities
- Somerset based side will be hoping to reach their first final in five years
The Premiership semi-finalists are on red alert to avoid the Covid-19 chaos that engulfed Sale this week.
With the Sharks missing out on the play-offs after their match against Worcester was forfeited due to 27 positive coronavirus cases in seven days, the rest are wary of a breakout.
Bath have benefited from Sale’s woe, and will travel to Exeter tomorrow hoping to make a first final in five years.
Bath have been given a Premiership play-off spot after Sale had to forfeit Worcester match
And captain Charlie Ewels, the England lock, has reminded his players of their responsibilities.
‘We said as a playing group the rule which you want to check yourself on is: would you be willing to stand up in front of the team if you test positive and spread it around and say this is what I did?’ the 25-year-old said.
‘If it’s because you picked it up off a shopping basket, then you would happily stand there and say that.
‘If it’s, “I was on a night out with a load of uni students” — then you probably wouldn’t be willing to stand up, look at your mates and say that.’
Charlie Ewels (far left) has warned his team mates not to fall victim to testing positive for Covid
After their semi-final against Wasps, Bristol have a European Challenge Cup final next Friday, possibly followed by the domestic showpiece at Twickenham.
And boss Pat Lam has not ruled out enforcing a lockdown on his Bears squad to keep them safe.
Director of Rugby at Bristol Bears Pat Lam hasn’t ruled out imposing a lockdown on his players
‘If it became a higher risk in society, that certainly would be an option,’ he said. ‘It’s two weeks. If that’s what it takes, that could be an option.’
Lam also talked about his twice-weekly worries when the test results come in.
He added: ‘I’m normally awake about 4am because I know those results come back to our Covid manager.
‘No one wants to be the person who costs the team by making a wrong decision.’