Ireland's two-test series against Australia in July has now officially been postponed, after confirmation from World Rugby that all scheduled summer tests would not go ahead.
The unsurprising postponement sees Ireland's games down under versus the Wallabies on July 4th (Brisbane) and 11th (Sydney) shelved.
In a statement, Irish Rugby's High Performance Director David Nucifora says they had been expecting the games to be postponed, given the Coronavirus travel restrictions.
"While it is disappointing that the summer tour to Australia will not go ahead as scheduled, it will not be a surprise to many as it is clear that COVID-19 will have implications for our game for some time to come," Nucifora said.
"We continue to work with World Rugby, our fellow unions and our players and their representative body, Rugby Players Ireland, to develop a road-map for the return of our game," he added.
The IRFU's statement came shortly after an announcement by World Rugby, in which they said they were canceling the planned July test window worldwide.
"The programme of international rugby matches scheduled for the 2020 July window has been postponed due to ongoing government and health agency COVID-19 directives.
"Extended travel and quarantine restrictions that apply to numerous countries, and concerns over adequate player preparation time, mean that any sort of cross-border international rugby competition cannot be hosted in July."
However, they remain hopeful of test rugby being played before the end of 2020, lending hope to the IRFU's remaining Six Nations games, as well as their November test series
"Monitoring of the potential impact on the remaining 2020 international windows continues in full collaboration with international rugby stakeholders and the respective authorities. All parties, including member unions, international competitions, professional club competitions and International Rugby Players, will be involved in the continued evaluation of potential contingency options with a view to achieving an aligned calendar for the remainder of the year.
"All decision-making will be entirely contingent on national government travel, quarantine and health advice and important player welfare and hosting considerations in line with return-to-rugby guidance recently published by World Rugby," the governing body's statement added.
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