A French club eliminated, without even having been able to defend its chances.
The EPCR, organizer of the European Rugby Cup, announced on Friday that the first of the knockout stages of the Champions Cup between the Irish from Leinster and Toulon, scheduled for 6.30 p.m. in Dublin, was canceled.
The cause: a case of Covid-19 in the ranks of the Var, who are crying scandal.
Explanations.
What happened ?
The first of the seven French clubs still engaged in the competition to return to the Champions Cup, Toulon was aware of a case of Covid-19 in its workforce with the tests carried out on Wednesday.
A frontline player, explains the RCT press release.
“In accordance with the protocol, the leaders of the RCT then immediately notified the EPCR and the National Rugby League (LNR).
The player in question has meanwhile been placed in solitary confinement, ”underline the triple European champions.
According to the Var club, the organizer of the competition then requested more information about the infected player, then a "contact-tracing" to determine whether this forward could potentially infect some of its partners.
Meanwhile, the team flew to Ireland on Thursday morning.
"The EPCR asked the club to carry out a new PCR test on the entire Red and Black workforce in Ireland," the statement continued.
These tests have therefore been made yesterday
(note: Thursday)
evening in the Irish capital and all the results came out negative.
"
“Finally, the EPCR considered this Friday morning (a few hours before the match), that all the first lines were considered as contact cases and that they could not take part in the match, offering the possibility of shifting the meeting on Sunday on condition of replacing the 6 front row players.
An obvious sporting impossibility ”, deplores the French club.
"These people made this decision less than 5 hours before the match", denounces the Var president Bernard Lemaître to Rugbyrama, who sees "a scandal" in this decision.
The EPCR, for its part, believes in another statement that there was "a certain number of high-risk contacts with the player who had tested positive" and that it was "dangerous" to play with these elements first. line.
"RC Toulon informed the EPCR that it could not select a team to play the match in safety," the text continues.
Why Toulon is eliminated?
Because of the new Covid-19 protocol for European competitions, set up for the final stages of the European Challenge, the small European Cup, and the Champions Cup.
“If a match cannot be played safely, then it will be canceled and the club whose COVID-19 status did not require the cancellation will qualify for the next phase of the tournament,” the document explains.
Concretely, the case of Toulon, while Leinster does not have a player infected by the coronavirus in its ranks, condemns the chances of the Var club.
"A resolution committee of the results of the match will be convened as soon as possible to determine the result of the match", is limited for the moment to indicate the EPCR, which will have to follow its rules.
The schedule, very tight, does not offer a time slot to reschedule the meeting, especially as the quarter-finals of the Champions Cup are scheduled for next weekend.
The winner of this match must face the match between the English title holders Exeter and Lyon.
Has there ever been tension?
In mid-December, just before the holidays, Toulon had refused to appear on the field to face the Scarlets.
Reason given at the time: a case of Covid-19 within the workforce of the Welsh province.
The Toulonnais felt that the tests, then carried out on Monday for the following weekend, had a good chance of minimizing the number of cases among their opponents, who had faced a week earlier the English team of Bath, struck by a cluster in the process.
The RCT had a lost match, just like the Stade Français which had taken a similar decision in the European Challenge.
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At the beginning of January, the French clubs had gone up to the front, demanding a change of the protocol with PCR tests closer to the date of the match.
Bayonne, affected by the English variant after having faced Leicester, and Castres had said they were ready to boycott the end of the group stage if the texts remained in place.
Finally, the EPCR ended up canceling the last two days due to the desire of the French authorities to limit the spread of this new strain of Covid-19.
This had led the organizer of the competition to review its formula and organize the round of 16 before the traditional quarters.
Behind the scenes, the tricolors ended up winning their case, as evidenced by the new rules which require a nasal swab "carried out at the earliest three days before the kick-off of a match".
Without this new rule, the Toulonnais would just have needed to test themselves on Monday, the day when all the Var levies came back negative.
We will see if we will ALL be united or not ... 🇫🇷🚫 #rct
- sergio parisse (@sergioparisse) April 2, 2021
"Here is therefore once again proof of the errors linked to the organization of European competitions," the RCT was annoyed. The EPCR left the players and staff to go to Ireland, prepare for the match, only to deprive him a few hours before kick-off from participating in this major event. "We will see if we will ALL be united or not," said Sergio Parisse, implicitly calling for a movement of other French clubs still involved. In addition to Toulon, La Rochelle, Clermont Toulouse, Lyon, Racing 92 and Bordeaux-Bègles play these round of 16.
