“The health and well-being of our players and staff is our priority" - Premiership Rugby Chief on Sale Sharks' COVID-19 outbreak

Premiership Rugby have confirmed that it an urgent review is being carried out ahead of the final round of the Premiership on Sunday. On Friday evening, Sale Sharks confirmed reports that several players and staff had tested positive for Covid-19, plunging the final weekend of the Premiership into grave doubt.

Following this, Sale's opponents on Sunday, Worcester Warriors, saying that: "The sole criterion for deciding whether a match can take place in the current unprecedented and worrying circumstances is the safety of officials and players and staff of both clubs and minimising the risk of anyone contracting and spreading this killer disease. Warriors would always prefer the outcome of a match to be decided on the pitch and will do so provided we are satisfied that all the COVID-19 protocols and procedures have been followed and no health risk is posed to our players and staff."

The Premiership has since released the following statement on the matter:

Sale Sharks announced last night that they had suffered “a number of positive COVID-19 tests” this week, and we are aware there are also positive tests at other clubs.

Darren Childs, Chief Executive of Premiership Rugy said: “The health and well-being of our players and staff is our priority.

“More than 900 PCR COVID-19 screening tests were carried out on Thursday. On Friday we received the results, which was followed by a comprehensive Contact Tracing programme at our clubs, created by those positive tests.

“These results are being analysed with the help of Public Health England and the local health authorities involved. This will allow a decision to be made over the Sale Sharks v Worcester Warriors match, and any others that have been affected by positive results.