The teams are hoping to leave South Africa today after United Rugby Championship’s South African games for rounds six and seven were postponed.

The four South African sides in the competition have yet to play a home game in their new competition and the upcoming rounds of rugby were set to correct that.

Leinster are not due to travel to South Africa until later this season and instead have two interprovincial clashes to look forward to against Ulster and Connacht.

However, Head Coach Cullen acknowledged the situation in Friday’s pre-match press conference.

“It’s not great news, our thoughts are with the people trying to get themselves out of there, hopefully, that’ll all play out over the next couple of days,” Cullen said.

“Presumably there’ll be some sort of plan put in place to reschedule the games, at least there are plenty of free weekends during the Six Nations from a logistics point of view, so we’ll see how it plays out.”

Most teams in the competition currently face a 10-week-long stretch of games before the next international break.

Cullen said that he has not been made aware of any contingency plans in place regarding situations such as these, other than the previous talk of the South African ‘home’ games being held in Italy.

The URC organisers now face a scheduling headache as they scramble to fit the postponed fixtures into the season.

“There are bigger concerns than rugby matches I’m sure. We’ll see how it plays out but from our point of view we’re playing two interprovincial derbies in the next two weekends and then we’re into Europe so nothing changes drastically from our point of view.”

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A spot in the last four of the competition is at stake – Dundalk are keen to retain their crown and return to Europe next season while Harps are hoping to reach their first semi-final in seven years.

The reigning champions were 3-1 up against Ollie Horgan’s men before a comeback granted the Donegal side a second chance.

Sean Boyd rescued the Ballybofey side from the jaws of defeat with two late goals sealing a rematch and sending the fans at Finn Park into overdrive.

His late, late equaliser came 11 minutes after he lowered the deficit between the sides to one goal.

Harps fan favourite Tunde Owolabi had opened the scoring before Jordan Mustoe was controversially given his marching orders after deeming that the ball had struck the 30-year-old defender’s arm.

Dundalk striker Patrick Hoban levelled proceedings and the Louth side took control of the tie after Sean Murray’s deflected strike.

The holders extended their lead when their two goalscorers combined to give them a two-goal cushion, with Hoban finishing, and seemingly sink the Ballybofey side, who were impressive before the red card.

Yet, that was not to be as substitute Sean Boyd saved the day with a brace to leave the result of this tie in the balance until Tuesday night.

Harps will miss Mustoe and goalkeeper Mark Anthony McGinley through suspension and Will Seymore, Tunde Owolabi and Shane McEleney are fitness doubts.

Dundalk will be without several players due to a Covid outbreak within the squad.

One player had missed Friday’s clash between the sides due to Covid-related issues and it is understood that four further players may miss the replay.

FAI rules state that teams must be able to name at least 14 players for a matchday squad or they will be forced to forfeit.

Lineups

Dundalk (4-2-3-1): Cherrie; Dummigan, Animasashun, Leahy, Jurkovskis; Sloggett, Murray; Ben Amar, Patching, Duffy; Hoban.

Subs: Yates, Kwelele, O’Kane, Hanratty, Kavanagh, Douglas, Keyes, Nwodo.

Finn Harps (4-4-2): Doherty; Boyle, Sadiki, Webster, McEleney; O’Sullivan, Coyle, McNamee, Rainey; Boyd, Owolabi.

Subs: McGarvey, Dunleavy, Timlin, Connolly, Logue, S Doherty, Hawkins, Foley, Rudden.

Where To Watch

The match will be held at Oriel Park and will kick-off at 7:45 pm. The game will be available to watch on LOI TV.

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The second All-Ireland semi-final will start at 3.30 pm on Saturday, August 28 at Croke Park and the winners of the tie will face Mayo in the All-Ireland final at 5 pm on Saturday, September 11.

The fixtures were delayed for a second time after Tyrone announced they could not fulfil their upcoming fixture on Saturday, August 21 after a Covid outbreak in the camp.

The Covid outbreak in the setup has caused the county to play without some players in the Ulster Senior Football Championship final against Monaghan.

Their semi-final was originally intended to be played on the same weekend as Mayo’s victory over the defending champions Dublin.

The GAA say the revised schedule has been finalised with the integrity of the championship in mind and to ensure that Kerry were not denied a semi-final outing.

Tyrone’s county board have welcomed the decision made by the CCCC to postpone their fixture for a second time.

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The Ulster champions’ county board said that it could not field a side after receiving expert medical opinion on the health of their players.

There has been a Covid outbreak in the setup that has caused the county to play without some players n the Ulster Senior Football Championship and the game to be rescheduled once previously.

The updated schedule also sees the All-Ireland get pushed back another week to Sunday, September 11th.

The winner of the semi-final between the Munster and Ulster champions will face Mayo in the final after they beat defending champions Dublin in extra time in their semi-final.

The GAA say the revised schedule has been finalised with the integrity of the championship in mind and to ensure that Kerry were not denied a semi-final outing.

Tyrone’s county board have welcomed the decision made by the CCCC to postpone their fixture for a second time.

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The announcement follows the news that the Tyrone squad are self-isolating and undergoing covid tests after positive cases among the team.

The game is now scheduled to take place on Saturday, August 21 with the venue remaining the same – Croke Park.

The other semi-final, Dublin v Mayo, is not affected by this and will continue as planned on Saturday, August 14 at 6 pm.

The winner of that tie will now have a three-week break until the final, which has been moved back to Sunday, September 4.

In a statement by the GAA on Monday afternoon, the sport’s governing body confirmed the changes.

“The GAA’s CCCC has today confirmed that Sunday’s GAA Football semi-final meeting of Kerry and Tyrone at Croke Park will not take place as originally scheduled and will now be played on Saturday, August 21 at the same venue ​(time to be confirmed). 

“This decision was taken following a status report received by the GAA relating to positive Covid cases in the Tyrone panel.  

“This change will necessitate the GAA Football All-Ireland final being re-arranged to take place on Saturday, September 4.  

“The GAA Football U20 final meeting of Offaly and Roscommon will proceed as planned at Croke Park ​at 1.30 pm on Sunday with the same permitted attendance.  

“The GAA will continue to liaise with the appropriate Government Departments and officials to discuss the practicalities of having these revised fixtures included under the statutory instrument that has facilitated the increased attendances of recent weeks.  

“The GAA will also be working with the LGFA around the TG4 Ladies All Ireland Junior final scheduled for Croke Park on September 4.”

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Round One of the Olympic Golf tournament is scheduled to begin at 23:30 pm on Wednesday, July 28th – McIlroy and Lowry will tee-off several hours later.

Both golfers will be playing at their first Olympic Games after choosing not to travel to Brazil in 2016 due to the Zika virus outbreak.

McIlroy and Lowry are the two highest-ranked Irish golfers in the world and the latter is the most recent Irish golfer to win a major – The 2019 Open Championship.

The pair will go up against other top golfers in the world such as Justin Thomas and 2021 Championship Golfer of the Year Collin Morikawa.

Rio 2016 Gold Medalist Justin Rose will not compete this year and neither will Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau as both have contracted Covid.

Rory McIlroy comes into the tournament in Saitama off the back of some mixed form which has seen him miss multiple cuts but also get back to winning ways at the Wells Fargo Championship.

His form can be encapsulated by a contrast between the tied-seventh finish at the US Open on a tough Torrey Pines course in June and a poor Open Championship several weeks later on a Links course.

The Northern Irish golfer has been paired with Morikawa, an American, and South Korean prospect Sungjae Im for a 2:25 am tee time on Thursday morning, followed by a 00:25 am start for Round Two.

Shane Lowry enters this year’s Olympics a better player than he was in 2016 and has also been the most consistent Irish golfer at the top level, of late.

Lowry’s solid weekends have seen the Offaly professional post his best-ever finishes at the PGA Championship and The Masters this year, along with a respectable eighth at the high-profile Players’ Championship.

The Clara native will play his opening rounds with Patrick Reed of the USA and Team GB’s Tommy Fleetwood.

The trio will tee-off after McIlroy and co. in both rounds, with a tee time of 2:36 am in Round One and 00:41 am in Round Two.

The two golfers’ groups will be among the last to play the 18 holes on Thursday and among the first to do so on Friday.

Click here to see all the tee times for the opening two rounds of the Olympic tournament.

Click here to see the Olympic schedule for Thursday, July 29th.

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Their match against Georgia on Friday is still scheduled to go ahead despite yesterday’s setback.

The Springboks have reported that fly-half Herschel Jantjies, one of the three who tested positive yesterday, has “subsequently been cleared and can return to training.”

South Africa is currently suffering from a third wave of COVID-19, led by the Delta variant and the country has entered Level 4 restrictions for 14 days in an attempt to combat it.

To contain the massive surge in infections, South Africa will be moving to Alert Level 4 for a period of 14 days. Additional restrictions will be in place from tomorrow, 28th June 2021.#StaySafe #CoronaVirusSA #Ramaphosa #Level4 #14Days pic.twitter.com/2XPY21cBgq

— Presidency | South Africa (@PresidencyZA) June 27, 2021

Under the Level 4 lockdown, all gatherings indoors and outdoors are prohibited and a curfew from 9 pm to 4 am has been put in place.

The lockdown will be in place until July 11 in the country.

However, the South African government announced this morning that all professional sports will go ahead but attendance for the Lions tests looks unlikely.

In a statement by SA Rugby, the quick return to training after the positive tests yesterday is down to “the strict precautionary measures taken by the team and the effective isolation protocols since the squad assembled.”

The Boks will announce their team to play Georgia on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the British and Irish Lions have landed in Johannesburg, South Africa ahead of the tour after all players called up were finally together following the end of domestic seasons across Europe.

The side beat Japan 28-10 at Murrayfield on Saturday in the first of their warm-up tests.

The province of Gauteng has been the region in South Africa hit hardest by the latest surge in cases.

Gauteng encompasses Johannesburg and Pretoria, meaning that the Lions flew into the epicentre of the outbreak.

Warren Gatland’s side will play five of their eight games on the tour in the region, including this Saturday’s fixture with South African club and soon-to-be United Rugby Championship members The Lions.

The three-match series between the reigning world champions and the British and Irish Lions starts on July 24.

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