Baptiste Serin and the Toulonnais will not be able to defend their chances in Ireland.

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NICOLAS TUCAT / AFP

Interrupted in January due to the coronavirus, the European Rugby Cup saw its resumption marred by the cancellation of the round of 16 between the Irish from Leinster and Toulon, a few hours before kick-off for health reasons.

And a controversy begins to swell because this decision risks leading to the qualification of Leinster.

The RCT, which reported a frontline player positive for Covid-19 in its ranks, who did not go to Ireland, accuses the organizers of "mistakes".

The European professional rugby club (EPCR), which oversees the competition, "let the players and staff go to Ireland, prepare for the match, to finally deprive them a few hours before kick-off from participating in this major event. .

The Toulon Rugby club strongly deplores this decision, ”wrote the Var club in a press release.

This trip is estimated at more than 250,000 euros, between travel and hotel, by the president of the club Bernard Lemaître, who is considering claiming compensation from the EPCR.

"We are treated anyhow"

“There is anger, disgust… We're a little sickened too, we give ourselves so much… that being treated like that starts to do a lot.

Until the last moment, we were sure to play.

We are treated anyhow.

Especially since I learned that it was the Irish government that banned the match.

So I wonder when this ban happened?

», Estimated Lemaître.

"I am not at all sure that the RCT will re-engage in the European Cup, it is no longer a competition that motivates us", added the leader, regretting "the laxity of the procedures" and the lack of "dialogue" .

For his part, the organizer explained that, “after having studied all the possible alternatives to facilitate the organization of the meeting, it was decided that the match could not be played in safety given both the directives current health conditions in Ireland and the COVID-19 protocols of the EPCR ”.

According to the EPCR rules, "if a match cannot be played safely, then it will be canceled, and the club whose COVID-19 did not require the cancellation will qualify for the next phase".

The organizer asks to replace all the contact cases on the match sheet

A match results resolution committee must meet "as soon as possible" to rule on this meeting, the EPCR said in a statement.

After the positive screening on Wednesday, the RCT placed the player in solitary confinement in France and carried out new tests on Thursday, all negative.

But the medical commission of the competition estimated "that there had been several high-risk contacts with the player tested positive", explains the EPCR.

According to the RCT, the organizer proposed to postpone "the meeting to Sunday on the condition of replacing the six front row players", the three holders and the three substitutes.

But it was an "obvious sporting impossibility" according to the club.

"This is once again proof of the errors linked to the organization of European competitions," ruled the RCT, which had already suffered a defeat on the green carpet (28-0) during the group stage in December.

The club with the three Champions Cup (2013, 2014, 2015) then refused to face the Welsh province of Scarlets due to cases of coronavirus in the ranks of this team.

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European Rugby Cup: The round of 16 between Leinster and Toulon canceled due to a case of Covid

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