A new TV documentary has revealed just what went on behind the scenes within Welsh Government amid the Scarlets and Cardiff’s Covid-hit trip to South Africa.
The two Welsh regions found themselves stranded in the Rainbow Nation in early December after it was placed on the UK’s red travel list amid the emergence of the Omicron variant.
The Scarlets did manage to leave the country after a few days and ended up going through a ten-day quarantine stay in a hotel in Belfast. But Cardiff’s departure was delayed amid Covid cases in their camp and they had to undertake an extended period of hotel isolation, first in Cape Town and then near London.
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During the saga, there was criticism of Welsh government for not doing enough to help the two regions. In particular, questions were raised over the teams not being allowed to fly into Wales or go through their quarantine period here, even though they had arranged a hotel in Cardiff. Now, a S4C programme has outlined just what happened within the corridors of power in Welsh Government.
A camera crew was filming for a documentary on the day-to-day challenges facing Minister of Health Eluned Morgan during the Covid pandemic and captured the dramatic events as the Scarlets/Cardiff episode unfolded.
The finished programme - Gweinidog Iechyd mewn Pandemig - which will be broadcast on S4C next week, reveals some very telling moments. It shows Morgan’s predecessor as Minister of Health, Vaughan Gething, making his feelings very clear. He is heard insisting there can be no special treatment for rugby players.
“The Scarlets are a professional sporting organisation with employees and plenty of means,” Gething, now Minister for the Economy and Transport.
“If we had 30 to 50 business travellers who are stuck in South Africa, there wouldn’t be a call to Welsh Government officials asking them to help sort out and signpost on to what to do. We cannot be bending the rules because they’re rugby players. I do not want to sign off a single penny of Welsh public money to support the costs of these teams. It’s not our problem.”
The programme also shows Morgan’s reaction when she learns the details about the Scarlets’ departure from South Africa.
“Did they seriously, actually get on a plane without knowing where they were going to land?” he says.
On being by told by a staffer that the west Wales region had been unsure of their final destination when they took off for Dublin, she said: “Unbelievable.”
Another staff member is heard to say: “Scarlets were clearly advised that this was illegal. That they shouldn’t leave the country. They shouldn’t have got on the plane without doing that. We were totally unaware of that while they were in the sky.”
Responding to calls from Scarlets directors Ron Jones for Welsh Government to support the region’s staff in returning to Wales, Morgan says to camera: “If we were to break or change any rules to help a team and then they would bring this variant home, that would create awful political trouble for us.”
There then follows a sequence where Morgan asks a colleague if they know how she can get hold of Wales and Lions wing legend Gerald Davies.
“He is the chair of the WRU, isn’t he?” she says.
She is then heard speaking to Davies, who is actually the president of WRU. The chairman is Rob Butcher. You also see Morgan addressing the issue of the Scarlets and Cardiff having wanted to fly into Wales and go through their quarantine period there.
“We would have to change the law. And also there’s no point in changing the law for an airport unless we’ve got a hotel that’s willing to take them. We’re not doing exemptions,” she says.
“You have to have a hotel that is ready to take people. It will turn into a COVID hotel. That means they can’t have anyone else staying there. Rugby teams can carry Covid. End of.”
The sequence ends with Morgan being asked about the soon-deleted tweet from Cardiff full-back Matthew Morgan who said Welsh Government were becoming more of a joke day by day. As it so happens, the Scarlets and Cardiff are now back out in South Africa, playing the United Rugby Championship matches that were postponed in November and December.
* Gweinidog Iechyd mewn Pandemig will be shown at 8pm on Monday, March 21 on S4C
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