Argentina banned six of its rugby players from their match against Australia yesterday after they breached coronavirus regulations by travelling to the adjoining state of New South Wales from Queensland where the matches in the four-nation Rugby Championship were played.
New South Wales is reported to be one of the states hit more by the pandemic and yesterday marked the end of the final round of matches in the championship that New Zealand won when they beat South Africa last week.
The players banned were Sebastian Cancelliere, Joaquin Diaz Bonilla, Felipe Ezcurra, Pablo Matera, Santiago Medrano and Santiago Socino along with manager Lucas Chioccarelli and video analyst Rodrigo Martinez who accompanied them.
They were stopped when they tried to return across the state border into Queensland on Wednesday evening from New South Wales they visited for a health retreat.
Australia’s Covid-19 rules prohibits anyone wanting to enter Queensland from New South Wales unless they obtain prior permission or face mandatory quarantine.
A team official said Argentina did not have a problem fielding a team in yesterday’s match against Australia in the absence of the six players as they had a 44-member squad on tour.
Before yesterday’s match Argentina had lost all five matches played in the tournament and are scheduled to leave Australia headed for Argentina on Sunday.