Other Round 22 Fixtures

[tigerburnie]

Reminds me a bit of Scottish Rugby saying they would take legal action if their RWC game in Japan was called off because of Typhoon Hagibis.. its pathetic. I get it Sale want to qualify for the playoffs but there’s far more to life.. big picture, safety has to come first end of story. Saints have taken a very pragmatic approach, Sale... hmmmm!

This and some..................Dimes doing his level best to make Sale more despised than Salarysins, although Scotland are still top of the most disliked sides of them all.

[teds]

All credit to Saints - proper rugby team - for following the rules.

It would be an utter disgrace if Sale are allowed to play.

The sport is supposed to be professional.

Just finish the season on Sunday at 5pm. award the title to Chiefs.

[Tigerbeat]

How do we know that Sale players have breached the rules? Saints could not field a front row so had to cancel.
Tests may be false positives and still expect the game to be cancelled if the number of Sale positives remain.

[fentiger]

How do we know that Sale players have breached the rules? Saints could not field a front row so had to cancel.
Tests may be false positives and still expect the game to be cancelled if the number of Sale positives remain.

Yeah, but the main point.... Sale can't field a side on Sunday... so why are they being given preferential treatment... it stinks!

[fentiger]

From the Telegraph:
Sale Sharks players went drinking into the early hours after winning the Premiership Cup Final, just 10 days before the the club returned 16 positive tests that has thrown the Premiership finale into chaos.

Premiership Rugby is facing a furious backlash after postponing Sale Sharks’ crucial final-round fixture against Worcester Warriors to Wednesday. Northampton Saints, meanwhile, have been forced to call off their match against Gloucester after several players were forced to self-isolate having come into contact with infected Sale players in their game on Tuesday night. Mark Darbon, the Northampton chief executive, described his “deep frustration” and “extreme disappointment” at forfeiting the match 20-0 because of Sale’s outbreak.

Sale’s squad are understood to have had drinks at the club’s Carrington training ground after beating Harlequins 27-19 on September 21. The club confirmed that the players had “a couple of beers” but strongly deny that this was the source of the outbreak. Instead, sources at Sale believe the fault lies within “human error” with the testing system.

Despite their absentees, The Sunday Telegraph understands that Sale could have fielded a competitive XV against Worcester Warriors, albeit with a prop playing on the wrong side of the scrum and their front-row replacements consisting of academy players. However, the game was pushed back to Wednesday after both Worcester Warriors and Public Health England expressed safety concerns.

The remaining members of Sale’s squad will be retested on Tuesday and Public Health England must also give the green light for the game to go ahead. Sale will not be allowed to register any new players while the RFU will conduct an audit of Sale’s track-and-trace system to establish how such a large outbreak occurred. If Sale cannot fulfil the match then they will also forfeit it 20-0.

Either way, the staging of the match will have significant implications on the play-off race. Sale currently occupy fourth place on 64 points, leading Bristol on points difference, with Wasps and Bath on 66 and 65 points respectively. Apart from Northampton, other clubs have maintained a public silence so far but several are understood to be privately furious that Sale’s match has been moved.

[SthrnTiger]

How do we know that Sale players have breached the rules? Saints could not field a front row so had to cancel.
Tests may be false positives and still expect the game to be cancelled if the number of Sale positives remain.

Yeah, but the main point.... Sale can't field a side on Sunday... so why are they being given preferential treatment... it stinks!

Exactly, if false positives due to human error in testing process Northampton should be able to play on Wednesday as well.

[Tiglon]

I believe a game can only be postponed if both clubs agree to it. Perhaps Worcester were open to it whereas Gloucester (who seem to be very quiet in all this) have refused?

Why would PRL give Sale preferential treatment? Why would PHE give the game the go ahead (which they haven't yet) if it is not safe? Sorry, I don't see any motive for this conspiracy theory and I think we need to calm down a little.

What have Sale done wrong? As long as they comply with PHE advice then what is the problem? Perhaps it's worth waiting to find out all the facts and seeing what actually happens before throwing accusations around. You know, like rational people.

It's like we're Manu's bitter ex boyfriend - when he left us half the fan base protested (way too much) that they never loved him anyway, and now we take any opportunity to have a pop at his new lover...

It does, however, seem very unfair that Northampton lose out on the chance of making the top 6 because another club had an outbreak. There is nothing whatsoever Saints could have done to avoid this situation so I can completely understand their disappointment.

[Tigerbeat]

How do we know that Sale players have breached the rules? Saints could not field a front row so had to cancel.
Tests may be false positives and still expect the game to be cancelled if the number of Sale positives remain.

Yeah, but the main point.... Sale can't field a side on Sunday... so why are they being given preferential treatment... it stinks!

Exactly, if false positives due to human error in testing process Northampton should be able to play on Wednesday as well.

Northampton are not playing as they are unable to field a front row due to loads of injuries.

[WhitecapTiger]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/rugby-union ... -positive/

Make of it what you will.

[Tiger_in_Birmingham]

Yeah, but the main point.... Sale can't field a side on Sunday... so why are they being given preferential treatment... it stinks!

Exactly, if false positives due to human error in testing process Northampton should be able to play on Wednesday as well.

Northampton are not playing as they are unable to field a front row due to loads of injuries.

Don't they also have loads of self isolating players after playing against a heavily infected Sale side

[drc_007]

How do we know that Sale players have breached the rules? Saints could not field a front row so had to cancel.
Tests may be false positives and still expect the game to be cancelled if the number of Sale positives remain.

Yeah, but the main point.... Sale can't field a side on Sunday... so why are they being given preferential treatment... it stinks!

False positives are rare, false negatives due to sampling error are probably higher. To have 16 players test positive suggests some fundamental breach.

[TigerFeetSteve]

Facts so far:

Sale had a gathering for drinks at their club after the final win. This does not fall into the category of elite sports or preparation for it, so I believe it means the club knowingly allowed players to break the rule of 6. (Think there may have been even tighter restrictions where they were but not sure.) The club has admitted this occurred, but considers it unrelated to the positive tests.

Sale from their statement about their plan for a prop going to play on the worng side of the scrum means all of their available props from one side of the scrum have tested positive.

Therefore we can surmise that a minimum of one of Sale's front row who tested positive played in the scrum vs Saints, therefore Saints need to have their front row isolate for 5 days after the game before a negative test.

Sale have made a statement that they could field a team today, so are claiming that the front row that would be playing hasn't had close contact with any of the positive tests. (Highly unlikely but possible)

Sale seem to think this is a human error not really positive tests, how and why do they think that, surely the default position is to accept the results until further tests prove otherwise. (The only reason I think you could firstly think it's a mistake is if they're testing in batches of 16 in which case 16 positives seem fishy, but not enough to prove anything firstly.)

Premiership rugby have decided to give Sale till Wednesday to prove they have 23 players still testing negative.

An audit is being carried out on how this has happened.

Other Rugby Union competitions (French rugby and Challenge cup) have cancelled games with much lower numbers of positive tests.


Those are facts as we have them atm.

[Scuttle]

It would seem a feat of staggering numerical dexterity to be able to find a 23 man matchday squad who just happen to have had no contact with the 16 positive-tested players; or good luck.

[TigerFeetSteve]

It would seem a feat of staggering numerical dexterity to be able to find a 23 man matchday squad who just happen to have had no contact with the 16 positive-tested players; or good luck.

What position do we think Steve Diamond is going to be playing?

[kk20gb30]

It would seem a feat of staggering numerical dexterity to be able to find a 23 man matchday squad who just happen to have had no contact with the 16 positive-tested players; or good luck.

An absolutely perfect summary.