Here are the rugby morning headlines on Thursday, September 30.
Pumas breach Covid rules
The Rugby Championship finale between Australia and Argentina will go ahead, despite six of Mario Ledesma's players been stuck in a different state.
The tournament has largely taken place in Queensland. However, a handful of players and two members of Los Pumas' backroom staff broke Australia's Covid rules by taking a day trip to Byron Bay in New South Wales.
Travel between the two was recently reopened for essential needs only, but travel for recreational purposes is still banned.
As such, the eight were not allowed back into Queensland last night and had to spend a night in a hotel.
The Argentine Rugby Union confirmed the players involved were Pablo Matera, Joaquin Diaz Bonilla, Felipe Ezcurra, Sebastian Cancelliere, Santiago Medrano, Santiago Socino.
They are now set to miss this weekend's match, which will still go ahead due to the number of players still available to Argentina.
The Courier Mail has reported that the dispute has escalated to an 'international incident'.
"This travel across the state border is a direct breach of the present Queensland Government health orders and SANZAAR´s Rugby Championship tournament biosecurity plan," a statement from tournament organisers SANZAAR read.
"SANZAAR is very disappointed that such a breach has occurred given the clear rules that are in place to ensure the health and safety of all players and staff, and compliance with all relevant health orders."
Queensland Deputy Police Commissioner Steve Gollschewski told the Courier Mail : “Put really simply, they went into Byron Bay, they tried to come back in without the appropriate authorisations and approvals so they were refused entry.
“My understanding is they stayed at Kingscliff overnight. I‘m not aware of any exemption. If they are to come back today they will have to abide by all the conditions which will include quarantine.
“At this stage there remain in New South Wales with no exemption to get back in.”
Six Nations rivals form close bonds
This year's Lions squad was among the closest there has ever been, even if a group of Welsh players did relieve their international rivals of their hard-earned cash.
Speaking in an interview with the Telegraph, Dan Biggar revealed how well he'd got on with England prop Kyle Sinckler, describing him as "one of the best blokes you could go on tour with.”
And he recalled how a large group of Welsh players enjoyed “taking a good few quid” off Tadgh Beirne and Anthony Watson in card games during the trip.
“It was a tighter group than we had in the past because naturally we are spending a lot more time together,” he said.
“Then because we were in single rooms, there was a lot more time spent in the team room, so it was actually a really good experience from building friendships.
"You needed to make those bonds even quicker than on previous tours as we were forced to be in the hotel a lot.”
Welsh rugby trio get fitting farewell
Ospreys fans will get the chance to properly say goodbye to three regional stalwarts ahead of Saturday's derby against Cardiff.
In a fitting gesture, James Hook, James King and Scott Otten have all been invited to the stadium after hanging up their boots during the pandemic.
Circumstances meant the trio were unable to have a farewell in front of supporters despite notching 462 regional appearances between them.
Hook retired in March, 2020 after a distinguished 16-year career, while King and Otten were both forced to retire because of injury.
You can read Otten's story of dealing with the end of his career at 26 here, while King's life after rugby tale is here.
The players will be presented with jerseys on the pitch ahead of kick-off in front of what should be a large home crowd.
Boks slammed again
New Zealand rugby legend Sir John Kirwan is the latest high profile name to demand South Africa change the way they play the game.
The Springboks narrowly lost to the All Blacks last weekend but were pleased with a much-improved performance after two defeats against Australia.
Speaking to Newstalk ZB, Kirwan said every time had a duty towards supporters.
"I think the scary thing for me was after the game the coach and the captain thought they'd had a good game," Kirwan said.
"They're not going to change their DNA but I think they need to because it's not the game that I love.
"We do have an obligation to the fan, we want to make this game entertaining, if they want to kick high balls, it's still tactically acceptable … but I don't believe that's in the best interest of the game and not within what I would call the values of the game."
Saracens back axed England trio
Mark McCall has backed the Saracens trio of Jamie George, Mako Vunipola and Billy Vunipola to be fuelled by their shock snubs by England boss Eddie Jones.
George and the Vunipola brothers were among a handful of high-profile absentees after Jones selected a provisional 45-man training squad ahead of autumn fixtures against Tonga, Australia and world champions South Africa.
Hooker George and Mako Vunipola are poised to return to Sarries duty in the coming weeks following rest periods due to their summer involvement with the British and Irish Lions, along with team-mates Owen Farrell and Maro Itoje.
Saracens director of rugby McCall met with national team head coach Jones ahead of last week's squad announcement and is confident his overlooked players can force their way back into England contention.
"We discussed each player - he didn't tell me who was going to be in the squad and who was going to not be in the squad," McCall said of his talks with Jones.
"Obviously for some of our players, it was disappointing. But knowing those players and knowing how motivated they are to play for England, I think Eddie wants to see a response and I'm sure you'll see that.
"We want them to play for their country.
"If this is a provisional squad, there's a proper squad going to be announced around October 8, so let's see what happens with that squad and see if anybody has the chance to catch Eddie's eye in between those two things."
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