England’s autumn campaign was thrown into chaos on Friday after Sunday’s opening match against the Barbarians was called off after a number of players broke the strict Covid-19 protocols.
The Rugby Football Union launched an urgent review after the news broke on Thursday that 12 Barbarians players had left the team hotel to visit a London restaurant. The former England captain Chris Robshaw, Richard Wigglesworth and Tom de Glanville were among the players who were subsequently sent home when the matter was discovered. The RFU has cancelled the match after learning there was an additional breach of protocol on top of the incident already known.
“As part of its ongoing investigation into a breach of the Covid code of conduct that took place on 21 October, the RFU has discovered there was an earlier undisclosed breach that took place on 20 October when a number of Barbarians players left the hotel bubble without permission and without informing organisers about their whereabouts,” an RFU statement read.
“The RFU has concluded that the players leaving their Covid-secure environment on October 20 without then isolating from the rest of the group on their return has resulted in the bubble environment being compromised, with the potential risk of Covid transmission from individuals outside the bubble to everyone in the Barbarians team and management. The RFU is therefore left with no alternative but to cancel the game.”
The RFU chief executive, Bill Sweeney, expressed his frustration at the Barbarians players whose conduct had resulted in the cancellation of England’s autumn curtain-raiser, a warm-up for the critical Six Nations finale against Italy a week on Saturday. “We are incredibly disappointed to be calling a halt to this fixture, we know how much fans were looking forward to seeing the teams play,” Sweeney said. “However, our priority is to protect the health and safety of the England squad and the other international teams they will go up against this autumn.
“There has been a great deal of effort put into Covid codes of conduct and planning for games, including cooperation with Premiership clubs to release additional players to fulfil the fixture safely, and we are all incredibly frustrated and disappointed that the actions of a number of Barbarians players mean we no longer feel it is safe for the game to go ahead.”