Moana Pasifika's debut in the Super Rugby Pacific competition has again been delayed with their round two match against the Chiefs postponed.
New Zealand Rugby announced on Tuesday the match was called off due to player welfare concerns with members of the Moana Pasifika squad still recovering from their Covid-19 outbreak.
NZR said the decision was made on the advice of the competition's medical advisory group following a meeting on Tuesday where it was recommended that the match should be postponed as there was not sufficient time for the squad to adequately prepare for their match on Sunday.
Organisers had previously tweaked the round two schedule to give Moana Pasifika as much time as possible to debut by shifting their game to Sunday but NZR Head of Tournaments and Competitions Cameron Good said the postponement was the responsible decision.
“Everyone wants to see Moana Pasifika out on the field, and we explored every possibility to make that happen this weekend including pushing the Chiefs match out two days to Sunday.
“However, we were not willing to compromise player safety and wellbeing, so in the end this was an easy decision. We remain committed to re-scheduling both of the postponed matches involving Moana Pasifika.”
Good added the duration of the Queenstown bubble was still up in the air despite rumours of teams returning to their homes earlier than expected.
“We always said that the longest the teams would stay in Queenstown was through until the completion of round three, but we would continue to review the situation," he said.
"With the Government having moved to Phase 2 of the Omicron response it is now likely that some teams will return home after their round two matches this weekend, but we are still working with the clubs to confirm this."
1News understands 15 players are still isolating in a Queenstown hotel and have been given a Wednesday deadline to test negative and get back into training.
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