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Rugby: the Covid sows discord over the European Cup

2021-12-17T10:29:35.689Z


Even though government exemptions allowing English and French clubs to travel, many European Cup matches are mena


The Covid threat.

The European Rugby Cup, whose second day is to be played this weekend is once again disrupted by the pandemic, with the cancellation of the Montpellier-Leinster match and new travel restrictions between France and the United Kingdom .

The news fell on Thursday morning, taking the various players in European rugby by surprise: the French government announced to reinstate, as of Saturday, the obligation of "compelling reasons" for travelers from and to the United Kingdom in the face of " the extremely rapid diffusion of the Omicron variant ”.

Thus, "from this Saturday morning at 0 o'clock", there will be "an obligation to have a compelling reason to go or come from the United Kingdom, for unvaccinated people like vaccinated people" but these reasons "do not will not allow travel for tourist or professional reasons, ”the government said.

This complicates business in La Rochelle (traveling to Bath), Clermont (in Sale), Castres (in Munster), Bordeaux-Bègles (Scarlets).

But also those of Racing 92 (which hosts the Ospreys), Stade Toulouse (Wasps) and Stade Français (Bristol).

A meeting took place Friday evening between the clubs, the different leagues (LNR, Premiership, United Rugby Championship) and the EPCR to take stock of the situation.

The French teams affected by travel hope to benefit from an exemption.

A priori, these government exemptions allowing French and British clubs to travel should arrive.

Even before the French announcements, the European Cup was threatened.

The multiplication of positive cases in teams on both sides of the Channel even raised the specter of last season.

In January, the last two days of the group stage had been canceled due, already, to the very rapid expansion of a variant of the coronavirus in the United Kingdom.

Regarding the 2021-2022 campaign, the 1st day had already seen the cancellation of Bristol-Scarlets after the placement in quarantine of about thirty members of the Welsh team, players and staff.

For the second day, the meeting between Montpellier and Leinster, scheduled for Friday, was also canceled after new Covid-19 contaminations in Leinster and Montpellier is declared the winner on the green carpet (28-0).

Uncertainty hangs over the Racing 92 - Ospreys match, scheduled for Saturday.

The manager of the Welsh province Toby Booth reported "about seven cases" identified in his workforce and it is not certain that the meeting can be played this Saturday at the Paris-La Défense-Arena.

In the "small" European Cup, the European Challenge, the match between Pau and Saracens was canceled due to too many cases in the English club.

Four positive cases in Lyon weigh the holding of the trip to Newport, among the Welsh Dragons.

Source: leparis

All sports articles on 2021-12-17

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