Premiership: Gloucester v Worcester Warriors clash cancelled
The Gloucester v Worcester clash scheduled for Friday night has been called off due to illness and injuries, Premiership Rugby has confirmed.
Those aforementioned issues in the Warriors camp mean they are unable to field the required six front-row players to start an English top flight fixture.
Premiership Rugby has stated that an independent panel will now be convened to decide the points allocation but the Kingsholm game will not be replayed.
Gloucester currently sit in fifth position in the standings while the Warriors are eleventh, with the cancellation meaning the round kicks off on Saturday.
“Covid-19 cases, illness and injuries mean that, despite every attempt to fulfil the fixture, we are unable to name a team with sufficient front-row forwards to comply with the competition regulations,” read a Worcester Warriors statement on Friday afternoon.
“We currently have 36 players unavailable due to injury, illness or Covid-19, leaving us with only 18 fully fit players, of whom just three are prop forwards.
“When the side to face Gloucester was announced on Thursday we named the only four fit props in the club at that stage. The availability of Murray McCallum, who was named as replacement tighthead, was subject to him passing a fitness test on Friday morning. Unfortunately, Murray failed that fitness test.
“We apologise to Gloucester, supporters of both clubs and BT Sport for the inconvenience this will inevitably cause but exceptional circumstances have conspired against us.”