Cignpost Deliver COVID-19 Testing For The New Zealand All Blacks During European Tour

Cignpost approached the New Zealand All Blacks to provide PCR testing for their European Tour November 2021. The All Blacks had a complex Tour through 4 countries in a short 4-week window and required 3-day COVID -19 testing.

Cignpost have proved their capability across many sporting properties including F1 teams, Scottish Football and European Tour Golf, the All Blacks required a testing strategy and expert advice that would have little impact on the day-to-day impact on the entire squad, coaches, management and executives.

After a conversation with the All Blacks team doctor James McGarvey, Cignpost agreed 1: efficiency at the point of sample collection was key, due to the tight schedule of the team and 2: The continued bio-secure integrity of the Team bubble was paramount.

To this end we selected a team of three to service the team testing requirement. The team included a senior swabbing technician and senior client manager and a senior operations manager. Each member of the Cignpost team were PCR tested every 48 hours for the duration of the project and plans were made for a minimal travelling footprint to ensure that there was a minimal risk to the secure All Black environment.

Overall, the All Blacks have been an absolute pleasure to work with. The team responsible for planning and management were exceptionally clear with their forward planning, understanding of the limitations for the timings around results and responsive to additional queries.

The All Blacks Environment - Dr James McGarvey requested the need to ‘maintain a low personnel profile’, the All Blacks refuse to take risks, this was a key success in travelling extensively without picking up any positive cases. From the first conversation Dr James McGarvey was adamant about the number of people entering into their minimised risk environment – the only external additions being Cignpost and the local Coach Drivers. The need to ensure that not only the immediate team ‘bubble’ was secure, but to also look at the bio-security of the external environments for team activities. Added to this, the commitment of the wider NZR exec team stayed 1 step removed from the team due to their required external activity creating a masterclass in bio-integrity. Cignpost also provided all testing for the New Zealand Rugby Executive team. All tests were returned as negative at the first time of asking, all PCR tests were taken and returned within 12 hours.