Rory Kockott and his Castres Olympique teammates were deprived of the European dessert.

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Frédéric Scheiber / AFP

The decision fell on Saturday at the end of the day.

Against the backdrop of coronavirus, the quarter-final of the Challenge Cup - the "small" European Cup - between the English Leicester and Castres Olympique will not take place as planned this Sunday.

The EPCR, in charge of the organization of European competitions, specified that the OC "must withdraw and Leicester is qualified for the semi-finals", following a "medical opinion".

A health committee, made up of medical officials from the federations, leagues and two clubs, met by video conference on Friday evening after the Tarn club confirmed three cases of Covid-19 in the workforce, and another in the frame.

The quarter-final of @ChallengeCup_FR canceled, Castres Olympique beaten without being able to play.



Press release from Castres Olympique ⬇️https: //t.co/zFVjU2Xl2c

- Castres Olympique (@CastresRugby) September 19, 2020

The decision of the EPCR is very difficult to pass on the side of the Tarn.

"If the tests carried out on Wednesday on 55 club players had revealed three positive cases, the results of the entire workforce planned for the trip to Leicester had all been negative," said the CO in a statement .

The club also indicates that the three positive players were immediately isolated.

The club regrets that the announcement of his package took place "even before the results of the new tests [carried out urgently at the request of the EPCR] are known".

"No precise rule, including on a maximum number of cases, appears in the EPCR regulations, which seems to be an amateurism unworthy of a European competition", points the club, which was waiting to play a quarter-final European Cup for twelve years.

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