{"id":75868,"date":"2021-05-25T08:04:57","date_gmt":"2021-05-25T08:04:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=75868"},"modified":"2021-05-25T15:58:03","modified_gmt":"2021-05-25T15:58:03","slug":"covid-cluster-puts-super-rugby-game-in-doubt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=75868","title":{"rendered":"COVID cluster puts Super Rugby game in doubt"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new coronavirus outbreak in Melbourne has placed serious question marks over Sunday's Super Rugby trans-Tasman clash between the Melbourne Rebels and the Highlanders.<\/p>\n

The Rebels were due to land in Queenstown on Friday morning ahead of Sunday's match but that won't happen following New Zealand's Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins placing a pause on quarantine-free travel with Victoria for 72 hours from 7.59pm NZT Tuesday.<\/p>\n

As with previous pauses, it will be under constant review, Hipkins said in a statement.<\/p>\n

The only place rugby fans can watch every match is Stan Sport. Start your free sport trial now!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Four community cases were reported by Australian authorities on Monday night but the cluster had grown to nine active cases by Tuesday evening.<\/p>\n

The Rebels were in New Zealand at the weekend for their 35-13 loss to the Hurricanes in Wellington but returned home on the Saturday after playing on the Friday night.<\/p>\n

Any extension of the quarantine-free travel bubble with Victoria from the New Zealand government would place the match in serious danger.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Queensland left red faced by Kiwi champs<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Brumbies blown off the park by classy Chiefs<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Woeful Tahs slump to record 10th straight loss<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The current best case scenario for the Rebels would be to arrive in Queenstown late Friday night or on Saturday \u2013 the day before the game.<\/p>\n

But should the Covid-19 cluster flare up on Sunday, the Rebels could run the risk of being stuck in New Zealand.<\/p>\n

NZME has reported the Rebels are holding meetings on Tuesday evening to discuss their next steps as they wait for advice from the Australian government.<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/MelbourneRebels\/status\/1397065274486972419?s=20<\/a><\/p>\n

"Going ahead at this stage," the Melbourne Rebels posted to their social media when asked if the game against the Highlanders in Queenstown was going ahead on Sunday.<\/p>\n

The Highlanders have been approached for comment.<\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/em>– This article originally appeared on stuff.co.nz and is reproduced with permission<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A new coronavirus outbreak in Melbourne has placed serious question marks over Sunday's Super Rugby trans-Tasman clash between the Melbourne Rebels and the Highlanders. The […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75868"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=75868"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75868\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":75872,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75868\/revisions\/75872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=75868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=75868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=75868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}