After already re-arranging the draw for the inaugural Super Rugby Pacific season, more tweaks may have to be made in the coming weeks due to Covid regulations in Western Australia and New Zealand.
When the draw was first released in November, the expectation was that there would be free travel between NZ and Australia and the 12 teams involved would regularly move between the two nations. The advent of the omicron variant, however, has seen a delay in the re-introduction of a travel bubble between the neighbours. At present, while it’s possible to fly from NZ to the majority of Australian states without having to quarantine or isolate, the opposite is not true.
As such, a revised draw was unveiled in December which will see derby games played over the opening nine rounds before the Trans-Tasman portion of the competition kicks off in late April.
Former Chiefs fullback Damian McKenzie is lighting up League One this season.
While it’s still entirely possible that a travel corridor does exist between New Zealand and Australia at that stage of the tournament, there are currently no guarantees. The New Zealand Government has not yet confirmed when it expects to reopen free travel into the country from Australia.
If there is still no corridor in place by Round 10 of the competition, it’s possible that the Trans-Tasman games will all have to be played in Australia, as was the case for the latter part of the 2020 Tri-Nations and last year’s Rugby Championship.
Changes forced upon Super Rugby Pacific have left players, fans and administrators alike with another season that may struggle to capture the imagination. #SuperRugbyPacific https://t.co/N9XDObNALU
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) January 7, 2022
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