riocard911 wrote: ↑November 29th, 2021, 3:12 pm
Latest: Majority of Munster party cleared to return to Ireland as province won’t be out of pocket from South Africa stay
Rúaidhrí O'Connor, Cian Tracey and Gabija Gataveckaite
November 29 2021 12:55 PM
Independent.ie
The government has given permission for the majority of Munster's travelling party to return to Ireland, with two members - a positive Covid case and a close contact - remaining in South Africa.
The individuals who are required to stay in South Africa will travel back to Ireland after they receive the relevant advice from authorities.
Minister of State with responsibility Sport Jack Chambers said the permission had been granted, however Munster have since issued a statement saying they are awaiting the results of the latest round of testing and remain in the dark about travelling home.
“The staff and the health authorities have given the all-clear for the rest of the Munster panel to travel home, so there is active work ongoing now to allow Munster to get back,” he said.
Minister Chambers said that the Department of Foreign Affairs, Sport Ireland are among the bodies working with Munster and the IRFU to allow them to come home “as quickly as possible”.
The group will be subject to 10 days mandatory home quarantine and two negative PCR tests upon their return to Ireland under the new Government travel rules.
Minister Chambers said that the group are “free to travel as of today” and that there is “intensive work ongoing to allow them to return home as quickly as possible” when asked when it is expected for the fleet to travel.
“There are difficulties in the travel situation in southern Africa at the moment,” he added.
Munster's statement said their travelling party remain in Cape Town and will undergo a round of PCR tests today, with results due tomorrow.
“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," head coach Johann van Graan said.
“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.”
The province will not be out of pocket as a result of their South African stay.
The squad, management and support staff remained in Cape Town last night after a member of their travelling party tested positive for Covid-19 delayed their departure.
Zebre and Scarlets have successfully left South Africa, with the Welsh region currently based in a Belfast hotel having flown into Dublin Airport.
Scarlets' chairman, Simon Muderack, has spoken about the player welfare issues involved for his players who, like Munster, have not played a match since October 23.
Those concerns will be shared by Cardiff and Munster who have remained after discovering cases of Covid-19 in their camps.
The United Rugby Championship covers the cost of teams' trans-continental tours and have been liaising with the teams and the South African government, with help from the South African Rugby Union.
Members of the travelling party are confined to their hotel bubble and are not training, independent.ie understands.
It is expected that members of the travelling party will quarantine at a hotel in Kildare which has training facilities.
Rugby Players Ireland and the IRFU are both offering support to the province who were scheduled to face the Bulls last Saturday and the Lions this weekend before the discovery of the omicron variant led to South Africa being placed on the European Union and British red-lists for travel.
"Over the weekend we were in contact with representatives from our colleagues at My Players (SARPA) who have assured us that all is being done in partnership with SARU to support the staff at Munster Rugby and to ensure the safety and comfort of our members currently in South Africa," a Rugby Players Ireland spokesperson said.
"Representatives of Rugby Players Ireland have also been in contact with several members of the squad and have reminded them that our services remain available at any time.
"The players are trying to keep their spirits high in difficult circumstances."
The situation has put huge strain on the players, while it has also put the entire United Rugby Championship and the opening rounds of the Heineken Champions Cup in jeopardy.
Tournament organisers EPCR (European Professional Club Rugby) say they are monitoring the situation ahead of the opening round of fixtures in nine days' time. Munster are scheduled to face Wasps on Sunday week after a seven-week lay-off.
The picture is complicated further by the fact that a number of Munster's leading players were given last week off after their Ireland involvement last month.
It's unlikely that Joey Carbery, Peter O'Mahony, Keith Earls, Conor Murray and Tadhg Beirne would be allowed to join the bubble when the party returns.
Munster have confirmed that those players are training with the Academy squad at Munster's base in the University of Limerick ahead of their game in Coventry.
With Academy manager Ian Costello overseeing training today at Munster's high performance centre in Limerick, Independent.ie understands that the group, which included the returning internationals, Academy and National Talent Squad players, were informed that they may be pressed into action for the European opener against Wasps.
Should such a bizarre scenario come to pass, Costello could return to Wasps in charge of Munster, having only just left the Premiership club during the summer.
The IRFU has been in regular contact with Munster over the last few days, with chief executive Philip Browne has been liaising with his Munster counterpart Ian Flanagan, while the union's medical director Dr Rod McLoughlin has also been assisting.
“The IRFU and Munster Rugby, in tandem with URC executives have been working collectively over the weekend to try and get the squad home, while the South African Rugby Union are assisting on the ground,” an IRFU spokesperson told Independent.ie.
The union reiterated their intention to get the Munster squad back in Ireland, in line with the various regulations, as soon as possible.
The gravity of the situation was laid out by Scarlets chairman Muderack on BBC Radio Wales this morning.
“Time is ticking,” he said.
“The reality is we haven’t played a game of rugby as a team for quite some time.
“Our last game would have been at the end of October and here we are essentially into December.
“Every day that the boys spend in quarantine, they are de-conditioning, so we are starting to get to a point, if we are not already there, were there are some personal health and safety issues.
“You have got a bunch of boys who haven’t played rugby for six weeks who may well be confined to a hotel in quarantine for 10 days going up against a set of finely tuned athletes who have not skipped a beat in terms of game-time preparation, nutrition, access to sunlight and being able to spend time at home decompressing with their families.
“So there are a set of challenges there that we can’t ignore.”
“Within the time frames that we had, there wasn’t an option in Wales,” explained Muderack whose squad are back on European soil."
Muderack outlined the logistical challenges involved. Scarlets were supposed to share a flight with Munster before the positive case put paid to their plans.
“We worked with the Irish government, alongside Munster, to get clearance for the plane to fly into Dublin.
“We then worked with the UK and Welsh government on the different options once we got the boys into Europe, how we could then get them into the UK and accommodate them initially in a quarantine programme.
“We did not have access to a quarantine hotel in Wales. Belfast was the location within the UK that we were able to access.
“We have obviously got 50 people and the system in the UK is under a bit of stress, I would imagine, with planes now being able to land.
“So for us it was quite simply, in the limited amount of time we had, where could we find a location that could accommodate en bloc and Belfast was the answer to that.
“Logically, with the plane flying into Dublin, geographically it was a relatively convenient solution.
“The squad landed in Dublin just after 1am this morning (Monday). They were able then to secure transit up to Belfast.
“At about 5.30am this morning they were checking in at a quarantine hotel up in Belfast.
“They are into that programme and we will now work through what potential options there might be beyond that.”
“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.”
- by the feeling that the original point I was attempting to make - the absolute necessity for the Munster group running a tight ship and everyone observing the medical advice, in order to get themselves through J'burg airport and out of RSA without any member catching covid in general and the new omicron variant in particular - being blithely dismissed with "eating" as an justifiable reason to let one's guard down. Whether or which, you're grand, Ronk; I've calmed down in the meantime!!!
