Six Argentina rugby players test positive for COVID-19

The announcement casts further doubt on whether the four-nation Rugby Championship, involving Argentina, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, will take place this season. Southern hemisphere rugby body Sanzaar hoped the tournament might be able to go ahead in New Zealand between Nov. 7 and Dec. 12.

Six members of the Argentina national rugby have tested positive for COVID-19. The players are asymptomatic and have been placed in managed isolation, the Argentina Rugby Union said in a statement Friday. It named the players as Emiliano Boffelli, Juan Cruz Mallia, Bautista Delguy, Bautista Pedemonte, Rodrigo Fernandez Criado and Lucas Bur.

“After completing a new round of ... tests in order to minimize the risk of contagion and be able to start the health bubble, the results yielded six positive cases of COVID-19 in the campus,” the statement said. The announcement casts further doubt on whether the four-nation Rugby Championship, involving Argentina, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, will take place this season.

Southern hemisphere rugby body Sanzaar hoped the tournament might be able to go ahead in New Zealand between Nov. 7 and Dec. 12. South Africa is already considered unlikely to participate because of a lack of domestic rugby to prepare players for the test series.