Rugby: All Blacks prepare as normal as Irish camp hit by Covid-19 scare

Samuel Whitelock will lead the All Blacks out against Ireland this weekend. Photo / Photosport

When news came of a "potential positive case" of Covid-19 in the Irish rugby team camp overnight, All Blacks captain Samuel Whitelock said nothing would change for his side ahead of their test in Dublin Sunday morning.

The Ireland Rugby Football union (IRFU) released a statement early on Saturday NZT revealing the potential case and additional testing being undertaken to establish if the test result could be a false positive. In the meantime, the rest of the squad and team management were tested for Covid-19.

Later on Saturday morning, the IRFU announced the player in question had since undertaken two PCR tests at two separate labs, returning negative results on both.

Additionally, PCR testing carried out on the entire Ireland men's squad and management team produced no positive Covid results; meaning the Irish team will take to the field as named earlier this week.

Speaking to media from Dublin on Saturday morning, Whitelock addressed the situation and said with the side being under their bubble protocol all tour, the scare didn't change too much for them.

"It's something that we're aware of and when we get more information we can tell the boys. But at the moment, it is where it is," Whitelock said.

"What it potentially does change is a little bit around pre-game. I think we've got to meet the ref out on the field rather than in the changing rooms – a couple of little things like that, but it's something we've dealt with before. You just have to roll with it a little bit.

"Once the whistle goes it's a normal test match, the field is the same size, the same amount of time etc. It's just something we have to adapt with as it goes."

Samuel Whitelock will lead the All Blacks out against Ireland this weekend. Photo / Photosport

The test on Sunday morning (NZ time) will be the first meeting between the two nations since their Rugby World Cup quarterfinal in Japan in 2019. On that occasion, the All Blacks were too good for their Irish counterparts, running in seven tries to two on their way to an impressive 46-14 win.

However, the ledger is square between the two sides over their last four meetings – dating back to November 2016. The two tests won by Ireland in that time are their only victories over the All Blacks.