Two more players temporarily leave Featherstone Rovers amidst coronavirus pandemic

Parata will return to Australia while Jouffret has already travelled home to Marseille, France. The pair are the second set of Featherstone players to leave England after Conor Carey and Alec Susino returned down under last week.

All four players will be undertaking training sessions at home in order to keep fit for when the season gets back underway, with all forms of rugby league currently suspended until April 3.

“With what is happening in the world at the moment surrounding the Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak, I have decided to go back to France to be closer to my family during these uncertain times," said Jouffret, who has scored two tries in five appearances for Rovers since joining from Batley Bulldogs last autumn.

“I’m still training here in Marseille to keep me in good shape for whenever the season will restart, hopefully that will be sooner rather than later.

“I’m already looking forward to seeing you all back at the Millennium Stadium, hopefully we can restart the season in-front of our incredible fans at home. Stay safe everyone and I will see you soon."

The club are currently operating with a "skeleton" staff, with members of the public only encouraged to leave their homes if it is deemed absolutely necessary.

“The situation with Louis and Dean is the same we had with the lads last week, the club 100 per cent understands the players' needs to travel home to be with their families," said Longo.

"Of course we will miss them, but at the moment there isn’t any rugby to be played, so we will look forward to their returns when the current circumstances around the globe get better.”

He added: “At the moment, we are following government guidelines and are currently operating with a skeleton workforce at the Millennium Stadium.

"The stadium will remain closed to the general public until further notice as we await further guidance from the government.”