We can only control what we can, says upbeat Lions boss about Covid

While Lions team doctor Rob Collins has dismissed talk of a Covid-19 “outbreak” at the union, head coach Cash van Rooyen said the happenings of the last few days had galvanised the team.

The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) gave the Lions the all clear on Wednesday for the Super Rugby Unlocked game against Griquas at Ellis Park on Friday to go ahead following the cancellation – because of several Covid cases in the Lions team – of last Saturday’s match between the Lions and the Cheetahs.

“The energy I’ve felt from the players has been really positive, even though we are not oblivious to what has happened,” said Van Rooyen on Wednesday.

“But it’s a condition all over the world and it’s out of our hands. We will control what we can.”

The Lions coach stressed that being transparent and honest with the players about what has happened, and is going on, is the best way to go.

“We had zoom meetings with the players regarding the plan going forward and how we want to play, so I really need to commend the players.

“Mentally, the players are in a good space. They understand what’s happening and what we want to achieve and they also understand what they are allowed to do,” he said.

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Collins said the Lions were merely sticking to all the Covid protocols.

“We had one player who was symptomatic and another player most likely got it from him,” said Collins, about what happened last week before the Cheetahs match.

But then, said Collins, there were two other positive cases who he suspected were false positives, because they were asymptomatic. However, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases wanted them to do further tests on Friday.

“So we did those tests on Friday and there were two more positive cases so they were then concerned it could be an outbreak, and that’s why they called the game off,” he said.

Collins reiterated the decision to call off the Cheetahs match was for precautionary reasons. “The NICD confirmed there was no outbreak and secondly that what we had done was sufficient to control matters in order for the team to continue with the match this weekend.”

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