New Zealand Rugby has made the decision to relocate the six New Zealand-based Super Rugby Pacific squads to Queenstown to mitigate against the risk of COVID-19.
NZ Rugby says the move would provide the best chance of the inaugural season of Super Rugby Pacific kicking off as scheduled on February 18.
Under current COVID-19 regulations, it would only take one positive case entering a squad environment to shut down an entire squad for 10 days. The knock-on effect for the rest of the competition would be the postponement or cancellation of matches.
The Blues, Hurricanes, Moana Pasifika, and Chiefs will fly to Queenstown on charter flights, while the Crusaders and Highlanders will bus south over the coming weekend.
The squads will operate in separate bubbles with exclusive use of training facilities in the Queenstown area.
Moana Pasifika will take on the Blues at 6.05pm on the 18th of this month. The Fijian Drua will face the Waratahs at 8.45pm on the same night.
[Source: Stuff.co.nz]
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