By Richard Sykes
Huddersfield RUFC’s National 2 North match against Tynedale at Lockwood Park, which was due to be take place last Saturday, was postponed because of a Covid-19 outbreak in the Huddersfield squad.
Early last week Huddersfield’s skipper Lewis Bradley tested positive for the virus and subsequent testing showed that a couple of other squad members had also picked it up. Having been informed of the problem the National League administrators pulled the plug on the fixture last Friday morning.
The two teams last met in March 2020. It was the last game played before the lockdown which resulted in the cancellation of the remaining five fixtures of the 2019/20 season.
Huddersfield won the game 31-19 and the result was factored into the formula used by the RFU panel to determine the theoretical outcome of the fixtures that fell victim to the pandemic. It was crucial in helping Huddersfield maintain their National 2 North status for this season.
Huddersfield head coach Gaz Lewis said: “The game would have been a very important one for us as we look to break our ‘duck’ and achieve our first home win of the season.
“Last week at Chester we produced some excellent attacking rugby in the opening 20 minutes but defensively we under-performed. We must do much better, both individually and as a team and be much more resilient when we experience setbacks in our games.
“The challenges posed by the Covid crisis continue to rumble on and beset us. Unfortunately, Lewis Bradley tested positive for the virus and is having to isolate. We all wish him well and hope that he suffers no truly ill effects and is soon back playing.
“The knock-on effect of a positive test for a player is quite involved. Other players have had to take the PCR test and a massive amount of extra work has been created for our rugby administration team to make sure we comply with both the NHS and the RFU guidance in the matter.
“I would like to say a personal thank you to our rugby chairman Paul Sharrock and all the other club staff for the hours they have put in to sort through it all.”
Huddersfield’s next game is scheduled for the November 13, away to the Loughborough Students.
