Wallabies Canberra Stadium comeback in doubt as COVID-19 threatens Rugby Championship schedule

The Wallabies are slated to play Argentina at Canberra Stadium on October 2, which would mark the end of a lengthy exile from the capital. Preceding that are clashes with South Africa in Brisbane on September 18, and Argentina in Newcastle a week later.

Rugby Australia chairman Hamish McLennan said there is sense in restricting travel and keeping all teams in one city, when speaking on Stan Sports' Rugby Heaven this week.

"We're having high-level discussions with both state governments with a view that we will try and restrict the travel between all the teams and host it out of a single venue," McLennan said.

SANZAAR is yet to change the schedule, which means the Wallabies are still slated to face the All Blacks in Perth next week, but officials are scrambling for clarity amid concern the Kiwis would have to quarantine upon arrival.

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The Wallabies are already in Perth, with Samu Kerevi returning to the fray after a stint with the Australian men's sevens team for the Tokyo Olympic Games which ended in controversial fashion.

The sevens team shared a flight home with soccer's Olyroos late last month, with reports soon surfacing of players causing damage, making a mess and at least one person vomiting in the toilet.

Rugby Australia launched an investigation that found a number of the team's members drank excessive amounts of alcohol while also being disruptive to cabin crew and other passengers onboard the flight.

They found no evidence of any property being damaged or that the mess in seats, aisles or bathrooms were caused by the Sevens team. Each member of the team was handed a formal warning.

"It was really tough the first couple of days quarantine for a lot of the news to come out that wasn't necessarily true," Kerevi said.

"The boys are willing to take the blame and cop that they did have a couple of beers on the plane, and it wasn't just our group. Obviously we still have standards we have to fall by.

"But the most important thing was the people that mattered to us knew exactly how the group carried themselves and how their behaviour was on the plane.

"Everyone else can make judgements and say what they want to say, but the most important people in our group and our lives knew the truth."

Kerevi thought his Wallabies career was over after moving to Japan following the 2019 World Cup but a change in the Giteau Law has seen him return to Dave Rennie's squad.

Now there is talk the rule could be loosened further to allow Rennie to select more players who do not fit the 60-Test cap criteria for overseas-based players.

"I'm overseas at the moment and it would work in my favour," Kerevi said.

"But in saying that, I think you've got to give the guys who are here at home the opportunity to put on that jersey. They work really hard to play in that Super Rugby AU competition and ply their trade here."

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