Barbarians president John Spencer has been left ‘seething’ and is considering legal action against both Dylan Hartley and Jonathan Davies.
Spencer’s anger comes after the Barbarians game with Samoa at Twickenham was called off just 90 minutes before kick-off, after six positive COVID-19 cases were found in the Barbarians camp.
As a result former internationals Hartley and Davies laid into the Barbarians set up following the late postponement, as the former labelled it ‘beyond embarrassing’ and the latter an ‘utter shambles’.
Following the damning assessments by the former England and Wales players, Spencer said he was left ‘seething’ with the comments and is now contemplating legal action.
He said: “I am seething about the comments of Jonathan Davies and Dylan Hartley. We are accused of being disorganised and a shambles and our main concern is to ensure there is no long-term harm to the Barbarians.
“As a lawyer I am seriously considering our [legal] position on this and it is in my mind.”
This is not the first time an outbreak of COVID-19 within the Barbarians team has cost them a game, after 13 players tested positive for the virus last year ahead of a match with England.
Following the second breakout Spencer insisted the team had been much more vigilant this time around, and had followed all of the protocols in place.
He added: “We could not have been more careful this time and the players have been more than responsible.
“The team and management were tested every day and we also had PCR tests on Friday and we had a team ready to go onto the pitch that was Covid free.”
He then went on to hit out at the outbreak that involved the England team earlier this year, admitting he felt the treatment from the Rugby world towards his setup has been much harsher than the one the English squad received.
“There is, apparently, a difference between what happened with positive tests in the England camp in the autumn Tests which was viewed as ‘isolated’ and the ‘uncontrolled outbreak’ view of our situation,” added Spencer.
That makes it sound like we have not controlled ourselves, which is not the case. We couldn’t have done anything more.
“When we did go out for a meal in the week we were in a separate part of the restaurant and all went by taxi.
“They have not misbehaved and no blame whatsoever should be placed on either the management or players. We put in place the elite sport bubble protocols and fully observed them.”
