The United Rugby Championship meeting of Munster and Leinster has been called off due to mounting COVID-19 cases. 

The provinces were due to meet at Thomond Park, but the game is the latest to fall victim to the virus' spread.

Leinster saw last week's Heineken Champions Cup trip to Montpellier cancelled by an EPCR Match Risk Assessment Committee, due to coronavirus cases in the Leinster camp.

It's now believed a number of new cases were reported in Leo Cullen's camp on Tuesday morning.

Munster had only returned to their High Performance Centre after their own COVID-19 nightmare that followed their trip to South Africa.

Sunday's game was due to play out in front of a full house, but the latest government restrictions had seen the Thomond capacity slashed to just 5,000.

Leinster say they will resume training on Tuesday next (December 28) with the aim of fulfilling their inter-provincial derby with Ulster on New Year's Day. Munster are due to go to the Sportsground on January 1 to play Connacht.

The United Rugby Championship say they will consider new dates for the Munster-Leinster clash.

United Rugby Championship statement:

The Round 8 United Rugby Championship fixture between Munster and Leinster at Thomond Park has been postponed.

The game was due to take place on Sunday, December 26 in Limerick, however, a number of positive Covid-19 cases within the Leinster squad have been reported by the province. The URC Medical Advisory Group has liaised with the IRFU and Leinster, who are working with the Irish Health Service Executive (HSE) and deemed that the fixture cannot go ahead as scheduled.

The United Rugby Championship will now consider available dates to reschedule the game.

At this point there is no impact on Leinster’s R9 fixture with Ulster, scheduled for Saturday, January 1, 2022.

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