Majority of Munster Rugby touring group in South Africa 'cleared to fly home'

van Graan: 'We have one player in a different hotel who is doing as well as possible after receiving a positive PCR result, while the remainder of the group are isolating individually at the team hotel'

Jack Crowley and Shane Daly stride out at Munster training in Pretoria last week.

SPORTS Minister Jack Chambers has confirmed that all but two of the Munster Rugby touring party in South Africa have been cleared to fly home at the earliest opportunity.

The Minister confirmed today that two of the travelling group - a positive case and a close contact - must remain in Cape Town for the time being.

Initial plans are for the majority of the group to fly to Dublin and remain in the greater Dublin area as a quarantine and training base.

However the Munster touring party remain in isolation at their hotel base in Cape Town, following confirmation that one positive result was returned from Saturday’s PCR testing programme. 

A statement from the province added that players and staff will undergo another round of PCR testing Monday with the results from same expected tomorrow. Only then, one imagines, will the large group be cleared to fly home to Ireland. The province continues to work with the health authorities, the South African Rugby Union, URC and the IRFU in deciding the next course of action.

Head Coach Johann van Graan said, “This has been a whirlwind of a time and we are very grateful to the people in the background who are helping us during this challenging period, and for all the best wishes we are receiving.

“We have one player in a different hotel who is doing as well as possible after receiving a positive PCR result, while the remainder of the group are isolating individually at the team hotel.

“Work is ongoing with all relevant authorities in securing our return to Ireland at a time when safe and appropriate but for now our priority is to look after our players and staff.

“While this is a time of uncertainty for all involved, we are doing everything possible to support our people.” 

Meanwhile, at the HPC in UL, Greencore Academy Manager Ian Costello and staff are overseeing the training schedule for the Academy group and returning internationals as preparations continue for Munster’s opening Champions Cup game against Wasps on Sunday, December 12.

The four South African teams in the URC look set for a round of local derbies. In the latest turn of events, a back-up plan is underway for a pair of fixtures originally scheduled for February 19 to be brought forward to this weekend.

The Stormers are set to host the Lions in Cape Town, while the Sharks will tackle the Bulls, with both matches expected to count for log points in the increasingly compromised United Rugby Championship.

While South Africa’s teams prepare for a set of revised fixtures, Munster are restricted to their hotel after a positive Covid-19 case in the camp scuppered plans for the team to head back to Ireland after the round six and seven URC fixtures were postponed on Friday.

Cardiff have found themselves in a similar predicament to Munster after they were also unable to jet off on a charter plane after PCR tests returned two positive results.

On Monday, the word from the Munster camp was that there was nothing new to update after confirming Sunday that they had headed into isolation at their Cape Town hotel, and were now awaiting “further guidance from the health authorities”.

In the wake of South Africa publicly pronouncing the detection of a new Covid-19 variant last Thursday, travel bans and restrictions have flowed thick and fast, while the URC has been thrown into a state of chaos.

It’s also understood that relations between South African administrators and their northern hemisphere counterparts have been strained by the manner in which certain matters were handled as the visiting teams sought to leave the country this past weekend.

Although the South African franchises appreciated the predicament teams faced, there was still concerted intent to find the means for this past weekend’s originally-scheduled fixtures to go ahead, before getting the teams home on a special charter flight.

One suggestion was reportedly even made to bring the four fixtures forward, and possibly to even play them in one stadium. However, by Thursday night, Cardiff and Scarlets had already confirmed they were preparing to leave South Africa after the public announcement related to the detection of the Omicron variant.

A sense of frustration also stems from the fact that the South African teams feel they negotiated a challenging tour to the northern hemisphere during trying pandemic times earlier this season, and without their international players.

A high-ranking source at one of the South African sides described it as a “disgrace” that smacked of “double standards” to have had the matches so abruptly postponed with limited consultation and dialogue for alternative options to be considered. Such a sentiment, which was echoed elsewhere, was one of “disrespectful” one-sided decision-making.

On Sunday night, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that the country will remain on Alert Level 1 despite the discovery of the Omicron variant, and called on countries to lift “unjustified” travel restrictions.

While the Scarlets did manage to fly out of South Africa on Sunday along with the Zebre squad, matters have been complicated for Cardiff and Munster after their positive tests.

The knock-on effect is that Munster’s preparations for the Heineken Champions Cup pool opener against Wasps on December 12 is also now in disarray.