Leeds Rhinos netball team handed Vitality Superleague play-off place after positive Covid test

Jade Clarke: Captain of Leeds Rhinos Netball who have been handed a play-off spot.

Leeds Rhinos have qualified for the play-offs in their first season in Vitality Superleague after a positive Covid case in their own camp deprived them of the opportunity to achieve that goal on the court.

Rhinos, who sat seventh with two games still to play, were just two points outside the play-off places, with six points up for grabs.

The three teams above them – Strathclyde Sirens, Wasps and Saracens – have only one game remaining and could do no better than reach 35 points, whereas Leeds could still earn 36 points with wins from two games they would be favoured to win.

However, their final two games this coming weekend have been postponed due to one of their players returning a positive Covid test.

Due to league rules, they are awarded the points from their final two games because they had already beaten those opponents – eighth-placed London Pulse and bottom side Celtic Dragons – earlier this season.

That takes them above Strathclyde, Wasps and Saracens into fourth place and secures a play-off semi-final on Saturday, June 26.

A statement from the league reads: “The Vitality Netball Superleague (VNSL) rescheduling competition committee have agreed, as part of the league’s ‘postponements, rreschedules and cancellations’ process in place this season, that the team’s two remaining fixtures of the competition will be declared as cancelled and that Leeds Rhinos will be awarded the points for both games.