The Moana Pasifika DHL Super Rugby Pacific squad continue to isolate in their Queenstown hotel after seven players were confirmed by Ministry of Health on Friday as positive Covid-19 cases.

Moana Pasifika are isolating in their Queenstown hotel and working closely with New Zealand Rugby – NZR - and health authorities, while following all Covid-19 protocols.

All members of the other five New Zealand-based DHL Super Rugby Pacific squads have tested negative for Covid-19 and will continue preparations for the start of the season, including preseason fixtures in Queenstown this weekend.

Moana Pasifika's situation will impact opening match of the DHL Super Rugby Pacific season, where they were scheduled to play the Blues on Friday February 18. The Super Rugby Pacific Competitions Committee has on Friday confirmed that this match will be postponed, with further work to be done between NZR alongside joint venture partner Rugby Australia, SANZAAR and broadcast partners Sky to explore options to play the postponed match, and will update teams, fans and media in due course.

'Our thoughts are with the players who have tested positive, and our focus is on ensuring the have the full support of NZR as they deal with their situation,” says NZR General Manager Professional Rugby & Performance Chris Lendrum.

'We also share the disappointment of the Moana Pasifika players, coaches, staff and fans. We know how hard they have worked and how eager they are to get out on the field.

'However, we also remain confident Moana Pasifika can get through this period of isolation and join the DHL Super Rugby Pacific season and will be doing everything we can to support them over the coming weeks.”

Moana Pasifika made the proactive decision to have the full squad take PCR tests on Thursday February 10, after it was identified that a player, who trained with the squad on Monday morning prior to their departure to Queenstown on a charter flight, subsequently became a close contact. That player did not travel with the team.

Tests results confirmed the positive cases on Friday, but were not included in the Ministry of Health's Covid-19 case numbers on Friday. It is understood the positive cases pose a low risk to the local community as they have been in a contained bubble since arriving in Queenstown.

A Blues player who was also identified as a close contact on Wednesday night returned a negative PCR test result on Thursday but continues to isolate in the team hotel following the advice provided by health authorities. All other members of the Blues traveling group have returned negative Rapid Antigen Tests and will play in a preseason match this weekend.

Moana Pasifika's situation means the preseason schedule has been changed. The Highlanders, who were scheduled to play Moana Pasifika, will now join the Blues and Gallagher Chiefs in a game of three halves, while the Hurricanes will play the Crusaders. Both matches will now be played at the Queenstown Recreation Ground. These matches are not open to the public as per the red traffic light settings.

On February 2, NZR announced the decision to relocate the six New Zealand-based Super Rugby Pacific squads to Queenstown to mitigate against the risk of Covid-19 side-lining any of the teams.

At the time NZR General Manager Professional Rugby & Performance Chris Lendrum said the move would provide the best chance of the inaugural season of Super Rugby Pacific kicking off as scheduled on Friday February 18.

'Under current Covid-19 regulations it would only take one positive case entering a squad environment to shut down an entire squad for ten days. The knock-on effect for the rest of the competition would be the postponement or cancellation of matches,” Lendrum said in early February.

'By moving the teams to a secure hub, we believe we have a good chance of preventing a Covid-19 infection, or close contact event, side-lining one of our teams for a prolonged period. The plan is currently for the teams to move to Queenstown early next week and remain in Queenstown for the opening three weeks of the competition.”

The Blues, Hurricanes, Moana Pasifika, and Chiefs flew to Queenstown on charter flights, while the Crusaders and Highlanders travelled by bus south over the following weekend.

The plan was that the squads would operate in separate bubbles with exclusive use of training facilities in the Queenstown area. Day matches would be played in Queenstown at the Wakatipu Rugby Club whereas teams would bus to and from Rugby Park in Invercargill for any night matches.

Preseason fixtures for Saturday February 12
From midday: Gallagher Chiefs v Blues v Highlanders
5pm: Hurricanes v Crusaders