The Ospreys' Boxing Day United Rugby Championship clash with the Dragons has been postponed due to a number of players within the Swansea region's camp testing positive for coronavirus.
The Welsh pair were due to meet at the Swansea.com Stadium on Sunday, although after undergoing rigorous Covid-19 testing, the Ospreys returned several positive cases.
Having been cleared to train last week after undertaking lateral flow tests, Toby Booth's side saw a total of 10 staff members test positive for the virus on Thursday evening from PCR tests taken from the same session.
A further eight tested positive from PCR tests completed on Friday, with all players and staff now required to isolate in accordance with government guidelines until December 27.
As a result, this weekend's Welsh derby clash has been postponed - with the Ospreys confirming their positive cases were of the Omicron variant.
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A statement read: "The Ospreys regret to announce the United Rugby Championship fixture against the Dragons at the Swansea.com Stadium on Boxing Day has been postponed under guidance from Public Health Wales.
"While we are disappointed with this outcome, we fully understand that the health and well being over our people, our supporters and of our opponents and their supporters must be a priority during these unprecedented times.
"Since the start of the pandemic, the Ospreys have followed a high frequency testing regime for all players and staff to minimise the risk of transmission in the workplace, abiding by all the Welsh government health guidelines, and last week was no different.
"The whole of the Ospreys squad underwent the normal LFT’s on Thursday and were cleared to train, but when the PCR test results from that same testing session came through late on Thursday evening 10 members of staff returned positive results, with a further 8 testing positive from PCR tests completed on Friday. Further analysis of the positive tests confirmed we are dealing with the Omicron variant.
"We have always held ourselves to the highest Public Health standards and have done everything we can to ensure the safety of our staff and supporters. All of our squad and staff are fully vaccinated.
"Unfortunately, we find ourselves in this situation and all of our players and staff have now been told to self-isolate over Christmas and Boxing Day until December 27th.
"We fully intend to fulfil our fixture with the Scarlets on New Year’s Day.
"The Ospreys would like to thank Prav Mathema, the Welsh Rugby Union National Medical Manager, and Public Health Wales who we have worked closely with us over the past few days.
"The Ospreys hope you all stay safe and look after yourselves during a difficult time for all of us."
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