Rugby Australia yesterday said that July’s Tests against Ireland were looking “highly unlikely,” while expressing confidence that all four of the nation’s Super Rugby teams could survive the COVID-19 shutdown.
The Wallabies are due to face Ireland in Brisbane, Australia, on July 4 and then in Sydney a week later, before they take on Fiji in Townsville, Australia, later in the month.
However, all three games are in serious doubt with Australia’s borders closed to everyone but citizens and permanent residents to combat the coronavirus pandemic.
“The July Test matches are looking less and less likely as the days go by, but that will ultimately be a decision made in consultation with World Rugby,” Rugby Australia chief executive Raelene Castle said. “There will be conversations that will happen from a World Rugby point of view, so we can think about if July doesn’t go ahead, which obviously seems highly unlikely now, whether there is football available at the back end of this year.”
If new slots in the calendar could be found later in the year, she said that the Wallabies could travel to Ireland to play the games.
Rugby union has ground to a halt in Australia, and elsewhere around the world, with the southern hemisphere Super Rugby competition suspended.
Plans for a domestic Australian tournament to fill the void have also been shelved due to the pandemic, depriving clubs of much-needed ticket sales and broadcast money.
How to get through the turmoil is still being thrashed out, but Castle said that she expected all four Super Rugby teams — the Brumbies, Rebels, Waratahs and Reds — to survive.
“At the moment we have contracts in place around delivering a Super Rugby structure with four Super Rugby teams and that’s the model we will be working to, but it would be crazy for us not to be thinking of other scenarios that might roll out,” Castle said.
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