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Martin Devlin: Let's hope Super Rugby goes ahead this weekend

Author
Newstalk ZB,
Publish Date
Thu, 13 Aug 2020, 2:18PM

Martin Devlin: Let's hope Super Rugby goes ahead this weekend

Author
Newstalk ZB,
Publish Date
Thu, 13 Aug 2020, 2:18PM

Play the games. C'mon New Zealand we've come this far, play the games and finish the comp off. At the time of writing no-one seems to know whether or not this last round of Super Rugby Aotearoa will go ahead at all, let alone under reimposed crowd restrictions.

But rather than wait to hear what next level we may or may not be by the weekend, I'm well in favour of making the call, making it now, and staging both games as previously planned.

Is the health of the players at risk? Doesn't seem so.

Is the health of the public at risk? Well that's a matter of who's telling the tale and whom you choose to believe. Like most people I'm utterly confused. We have five new cases in Auckland and so the place goes back into shutdown. Yet folk were still allowed to pack their cars and flee for other climes providing they escaped before the curfew came down. 

Isn't that by definition irresponsible, doesn't that open the door to increased potential spread or are all those people safe because they're leaving? It doesn't seem to make sense. Neither does shutting the Queenstown skifields which also happened yesterday. Eight hundred miles plus a sea away would again, by definition, seem as safe as one could be but no, out came the closed signs.

Which means a whole heap of people now calling their ski trips short and coming back to Auckland. There seems little logic involved in any of this although if, in the  long run, it means we get (as a country) back in control of this viperous disease I'm sure no-one will be complaining. But back to the sport. It will be such a shame if the SRA Eden Park finale does not go ahead. A sell-out crowd to watch the two best teams wrap it all up was a nigh perfect way to seal this brilliant round-robin.

This weekend you'll be able to watch Champions League football from Europe,, PGA  Golf, NHL, MLB from the US,, Rugby League from Australia yet not Super Rugby in NZ? 

And when you look at the state of the Covid outbreak in all those countries compared to ours it just doesn't seem right. So terribly frustrating and unfair. But then again, what about this virus isn't? For all those bemoaning the fact there was no actual SRA final, I guess we're all just left hoping we at least get a final round.

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