Super rugby’s administrators have announced that they are reviewing the immediate future of the Super rugby tournament in light of the extraordinary spread of the Coronavirus and new travel bans.
The Sanzaar statement came following the recent New Zealand Government directive, that all travellers returning to New Zealand will have to self-isolate on their arrival for 14 days – including New Zealand residents
The new directive begins at midnight on Sunday.
This means that all New Zealand players – as well as fans – will be isolated for 14 days if they have travelled. Players will be unable to participate in matches.
NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced the measures on Saturday after an emergency cabinet meeting.
“We do not take these decisions lightly,” she said.
“New Zealand will have the widest-ranging and toughest border restrictions of anyone in the world.”
The Australian Rugby Union had already announced that all matches after this weekend in Australia would be played behind closed doors until further notice.
The 2020 Super rugby tournament is seven rounds into its 18 round regular season.
Numerous sporting tournaments around the world have been paused or postponed and this latest directive from the NZ government could force Super rugby to be postponed – or given the lack of time in the sporting calendar to be abandoned.
SANZAAR added that they will not be making any official comment on the tournament and the future staging of the remaining matches at this point in time.
SANZAAR will issue a statement on the full impact of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis and its impact on Super Rugby 2020 once the Executive Committee has determined an appropriate course of action and all stakeholders have been informed.