(AP) — The first of three rugby tests between Australia and France originally scheduled for July 7 in Sydney has been moved to Brisbane due to new COVID-19 outbreaks in Sydney and a resulting 14-day lockdown.
The New South Wales government said Sunday that the state had recorded 30 new locally acquired cases of coronavirus on the first day of a lockdown for large parts of the region.
“It’s never an easy decision to move a fixture . . . one thing that the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us is that we have to be able to pivot quickly,” Rugby Australia chief executive Andy Marinos said in a statement.
“Following the (lockdown) announcement yesterday, we were faced with yet another challenge and we knew we had to respond swiftly.”
The second test is scheduled for Melbourne on July 13 and the third back in Brisbane on July 17.
