France have been awarded a 28-0 victory over Fiji and a bonus point after Sunday’s Autumn Nations Cup game was called off following positive COVID-19 cases in the Fiji squad, tournament organisers said on Tuesday.
Fiji Rugby said last week that one of their players had tested positive and Six Nations Rugby added that additional tests had “resulted in another four positive cases affecting close contacts as well.”
“Whilst no fault has been apportioned to Fiji Rugby, the competition rules provide that if a team is primarily responsible for a match not taking place, a 28-0 victory will be awarded to the opposition that could have played the match,” Autumn Nations Cup said in a statement.
Fiji, whose warm-up test against Portugal was also cancelled because three of their players tested positive, are due to play Italy on Saturday but that match is now in doubt.
Organisers added: “We wish the affected Fiji players well as they continue their recovery and are working closely with the Fiji team, to ensure that they are able to field a competitive team against Italy.”
A decision on the game will be taken after additional rounds of testing.
France are due to play Scotland in Edinburgh on Sunday in the Autumn Nations Cup, a tournament created to replace the November tests after the international schedule was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.