Glasgow Warriors’ hopes of reaching the Rainbow Cup Final on 19th June were dashed by news that a Covid outbreak in the Ospreys squad had led to the Welsh region’s final pool game against Benetton, which was supposed to be played this coming Saturday, being cancelled.

While last Friday’s impressive home win over Leinster in their final pool match had put Danny Wilson’s side top of the ‘Northern’ Conference of the Rainbow Cup, they were only one point ahead of Benetton and four points ahead of Munster, who both still had one game left to play this coming weekend.

Now, with no available weekends remaining to reschedule the match, a cancellation of the Ospreys versus Benetton game is the only option, and it was decided at the start of the season that in a situation such as this would result in the fixture being deemed a 0-0 draw, but with four match points being awarded to the team who had not been the cause of the postponement.

That means Benetton have leap-frogged ahead of Glasgow Warriors in the final conference seedings, and Munster cannot catch them even if they pick up a bonus-point win in their final match away to Zebre on Friday. Therefore, the Italians will play the Rainbow Cup’s South African Conference winners in the tournament final.

The decision to cancel the game is a result of the mandate from Public Health Wales that all individuals who were part of the travelling party from the Ospreys' previous fixture away to Connacht last Friday must self-isolate in-line with public health protocols.

While missing out on the chance to shoot for some more silverware – to sit alongside the 1872 Cup which they won for the first time in for years back in May – will be a disappointment to Wilson and his squad, the make-shift nature of the whole tournament means that they will not feel like they have been robbed of any significant glory.

Furthermore, the fact that Benetton are unbeaten in the competition so far and demolished Warriors on the opening weekend of the competition should also appease any sense of injustice.