Gallagher Premiership: Leicester Tigers' Boxing Day match against Newcastle Falcons cancelled

A second Gallagher Premiership match scheduled for Boxing Day has been called off due to coronavirus after Bath's home clash with London Irish was cancelled.

Irish returned only a small number of positives from Monday's round of testing but were forced to act when additional players presented with symptoms on Tuesday.

Commenting on the news, Bath coach Stuart Hooper said: "We stand by all Premiership clubs today and while we are disappointed with this news, the health and safety of everyone in our sport must be our top priority.

"I know this news will be hard felt by our supporters who were due to attend and, but I know you'll understand and join me in wishing all those affected this week a full and safe recovery."

The round four fixture suffers the same fate as Newcastle's clash with Leicester, which was called off because of an outbreak of coronavirus at Welford Road.

Premiership Rugby confirmed the Tigers returned "a small number of positive tests" in this week's testing, but a large proportion of the squad were also ruled out of the match due to contact tracing.

Steve Borthwick's side returned from France having defeated Bayonne on Saturday in the European Challenge Cup.

A Premiership Rugby spokesperson said of the cancelled meeting at Kingston Park: "Our priority is the health and safety of everyone involved with Leicester Tigers and Newcastle Falcons and we will give the clubs any support they need.

"Neither Premiership Rugby nor the club will be naming any of the players or staff involved and we'd ask everyone to respect their privacy."

The Tigers stopped training and closed their Oval Park training ground in early November after several players and staff tested positive for the virus in the lead-up to the new season.