This weekend's Super Rugby Pacific fixtures have been hit by COVID-19, with clashes between the Crusaders and Blues, and Highlanders and Moana Pasifika postponed as a result of positive cases.
As a result, the competition schedule has been shuffled to see Moana Pasifika host the Chiefs at Mt Smart Stadium on Saturday, as the only New Zealand-based fixture of the weekend.
That gives the Hurricanes an extra week to prepare for their next clash, after also being hit by COVID-19 over the past week.
Both the Blues and Highlanders had already cancelled training and media sessions earlier this week, while the Crusaders lost four players before kick-off in their defeat to the Chiefs on Saturday on "medical grounds" understood to be positive COVID cases.
New Zealand Rugby's head of tournaments and competitions Cameron Good outlined that the decision had been taken in order to protect the health and safety of the affected teams.
"Like many businesses around New Zealand we continue to deal with the disruptions of COVID on our people, and the health of the Blues, Highlanders and Crusaders players and staff was the key consideration in withdrawing those teams from this weekend's matches," he says.
What's more, the rescheduled match is also hoped to ease the pressure on Moana Pasifika, who've had three of their four matches of the new season postponed due to COVID, firstly due to positive cases in their own camp, and now in their opponents'.
"With three teams remaining we had to look at what was the best outcome for the competition and a key consideration was to ensure Moana Pasifika got back on the field again after having three matches postponed through the opening month of the season, which is exciting for the club and their fans," Good adds.
All postponed matches will be rescheduled for a later date.
