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Coronavirus scare for Crusaders players

(Photo by Kai Schwoerer/Getty Images)

NZ Herald

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Crusaders players may have been in contact with a Sydney University player who tested positive to Covid-19.

The Sydney University forward tested positive to coronavirus after leaving New Zealand, where the side faced the Crusaders Development XV in Lincoln.

However, Crusaders boss Colin Mansbridge says the risk that any player from the Super Rugby side may have been exposed to the virus is low as the Sydney player in question tested positive “many days” after returning to Australia.

“Our advice is because he was asymptomatic for many days before he developed symptoms, he’s more than likely been infected in Australia,” Masbridge told Stuff.

“Our players haven’t been contacted by New South Wales [Health] and local authorities. We’ve tried to reverse the contact cycle and say, ‘do we need to do anything?’,” Mansbridge said.

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“The advice we’ve got is our players are not part of their contact strategy. They haven’t contacted us. Because I don’t think he meets the requirements while he was in NZ.

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“That’s our understanding at this point of time, and we’re double verifying, because he has been gone for some period of time, was not displaying any symptoms while he was in NZ, and because the players most likely to come in contact are now in self isolation, that’s where we’re at at the moment.”

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the player fell ill last Sunday but only learned of his positive test on Wednesday.

The Crusaders management contacted the Sydney University team after hearing about the case, reports Stuff.

Members of the Crusaders squad who played in the match were Isi Tuungafasi, Ethan Roots, Fergus Burke and Harry Allan.

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Tuungafasi and Buke are reportedly most likely to have come into contact with the player, but both don’t meet New South Wales Health’s threshold for close-contact.

All four Crusaders players are already in self-isolation since returning from Australia last weekend, following Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s suggestion that anyone who has recently returned from overseas travel, even those who returned before the weekend’s deadline, should enter self-isolation in response to the virus.

As a result of the Government’s latest guidelines, both the Crusaders and Chiefs players and their staff who travelled to Australia last week have decided to take the cautious approach and self-isolate for 14 days.

“If the situation changes, in accordance with the advice of public health authorities, we’ll adjust accordingly,” the Crusaders said in a statement.

This article first appeared on nzherald.co.nz and is republished with permission.

WATCH: Bath & England player Freddie Burns talks us through his fitness regime during lockdown due to the coronavirus. He also takes part in a backyard passing challenge with brother Sam who is a Cyprus International rugby player.

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Flankly 2 hours ago
'Absolute madness': Clive Woodward rips into Borthwick in wake of NZ loss

Borthwick is supposed to be the archetypical conservative coach, the guy that might not deliver a sparkling, high-risk attacking style, but whose teams execute the basics flawlessly. And that's OK, because it can be really hard to beat teams that are rock solid and consistent in the rugby equivalent of "blocking and tackling".


But this is why the performance against NZ is hard to defend. You can forgive a conservative, back-to-basics team for failing to score tons of tries, because teams like that make up for it with reliability in the simple things. They can defend well, apply territorial pressure, win the set piece battles, and take their scoring chances with metronomic goal kicking, maul tries and pick-and-go goal line attacks.


The reason why the English rugby administrators should be on high alert is not that the English team looked unable to score tries, but that they were repeatedly unable to close out a game by executing basic, coachable skills. Regardless of how they got to the point of being in control of their destiny, they did get to that point. All that was needed was to be world class at things that require more training than talent. But that training was apparently missing, and the finger has to point at the coach.


Borthwick has been in the job for nearly two years, a period that includes two 6N programs and an RWC campaign. So where are the solid foundations that he has been building?

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