England A v Scotland A cancelled

England A and Scotland A’s long-awaited showdown at Leicester’s Welford Road has been cancelled after a further three members of Scotland’s playing group tested positive for Covid-19.

Daily tests had been implemented after one of the Scottish players had tested positive last week, which had meant a further nine Scots were withdrawn from the game, being deemed ‘close contacts’. A round of PCR tests conducted on Saturday when the team arrived in England uncovered three more positives.

The Scottish Rugby Union said in a statement: “Scottish Rugby can confirm that three positive tests for Covid-19 have been returned.

“The three members of the camp that tested positive have started self-isolation and the Scottish Rugby medical team have since begun internal contact-tracing to determine those that are close contacts, and as such will also have to self-isolate as per Scottish government guidelines.”

The match will not be re-arranged for a later date and ticket holders for the Sunday match will be reimbursed.

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England head coach Eddie Jones said of the cancellation: “We are of course very disappointed. However, we understand that the safety and wellbeing of all of our teams and supporters is the most important thing and we wish Scotland the very best.”

The match represented a chance for both sides to see some untested players in action, as well as to ‘capture’ some players – meaning they cannot represent any other international sides.

Scotland are also set to play Romania (10 July) and Georgia (17 July) this summer. England have ties lined up against USA (4 July) and Canada (10 July) too.

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