Postponing Lions-Cheetahs match was the right call, says Wits professor

It was the correct and sensible decision to call off the Lions-Cheetahs Super Rugby Unlocked game at Ellis Park on Saturday, believes sports physician, Prof Jon Patricios, from Wits Sport and Health (WiSH).

The decision, at the last hour, was made after six Lions players tested positive for Covid-19 with five more identified as having been in contact with the affected players.

“I don’t think it (the finding of positive cases) was necessarily bound to happen, but I do think it was in the teams’ best interests to call the game off, to mitigate the risk,” said Patricios, who is also a former Lions team doctor and medical consultant to SA Rugby.

“It is impossible to totally prevent the risk of infection unless you have a very isolated bubble which they (the organisers of the competition and the individual teams) don’t seem to have at the moment,” he said.

However, Patricios believed there was now a real chance that the virus could spread to other unions.

“Yes, it could, but one of the reasons for not playing (on Saturday) was to help prevent that very thing from happening,” he said. “And that should be applauded, because I think they took the sensible decision.”

On the matter of whether it might be advisable to take the drastic step and call off the entire competition, Patricios didn’t believe it was necessary.

“No, I don’t think this particular incident is enough to warrant that. I think all the teams are taking all the best precautions they can at the moment and let’s see how things evolve,” he said.

“Similar scenarios have played out in other sports, and once those infected cases have been identified and contained, then the risk is again minimised,” he said.

Patricios stressed that it was important to remember that one of the reasons why the infections in the Lions team were detected in the first place was because the teams were tested so frequently.

“So that’s a positive thing and not a negative thing,” he said. “Let’s rather have this scenario than have infected people out there who you don’t know about, spreading the virus” he said.

It is hoped that the cancelled match between the Lions and Cheetahs will be rescheduled and still played. If it is not possible, however, both teams will bank two log points.

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