All but two of the Munster squad have been told they are free to travel home from South Africa, raising the question over whether Cardiff will be granted similar permission.
Both teams were due to fly out from Cape Town on Sunday, but were unable to leave following positive Covid tests.
Scarlets and Zebre were able to take the charter flight to Dublin and the Scarlets have begun their ten-day quarantine in a Belfast hotel.
Now the bulk of the Munster travelling squad have been given the thumbs up to head home by the Irish government.
Two people - a positive case and a close contact - will stay in South Africa, but the remainder of the team have received the go-ahead to depart.
Munster will first await the results of their latest round of PCR testing, with those expected tomorrow.
Provided there are no further positive cases, they should be able to fly home, once arrangements are finalised.
Cardiff will now be hoping they receive similar approval from the UK and Welsh government.
They have had two positive Covid cases in camp, one of those suspected to be the new Omicron variant.
It remains to be seen whether the rest of the squad will be given permission to leave South Africa if they all record negative tests.
The concern has been the entire travelling party may have to go through 10 days of isolation in Cape Town, followed by a further ten days of hotel quarantine in the UK.
As for the situation regarding Munster, that was clarified by Ireland’s Minister for Sport, Jack Chambers, speaking to RTÉ News.
“They’re obviously free to travel as of today,” he said.
“That wasn’t the case yesterday, so there’s intensive work ongoing to try allow them to come home as quickly as possible.
“There are difficulties in the travel situation in southern Africa at the moment, but there’s intensive work ongoing by officials across government to try and help the team and work with the IRFU to get them home.”
When they do return to Ireland, Munster will have to isolate for 10 days and they will also require two negative PCRs during that time.
They are due to take on Wasps in their opening Champions Cup tie at the Coventry Building Society Arena on Sunday, December 12.
Munster head Coach Johann van Graan said: “This has been a whirlwind of a time and we are very grateful to the people in the background who are helping us during this challenging period and for all the best wishes we are receiving.
“We have one player in a different hotel who is doing as well as possible after receiving a positive PCR result, while the remainder of the group are isolating individually at the team hotel.
“Work is ongoing with all relevant authorities in securing our return to Ireland at a time when safe and appropriate but for now our priority is to look after our players and staff.
“While this is a time of uncertainty for all involved, we are doing everything possible to support our people.”
