Stade Toulousain, defending champions, qualified for the knockout stages of the European Cup on Sunday despite their defeat on the green carpet due to Covid-19, benefiting from other results which were favorable to them.
Beaten on green carpet by Cardiff (28-0), Toulouse was under the threat of elimination, provided in particular that Stade Français largely dominates the Irish of Connacht on Sunday to overtake them in the standings, which was not the case (37-31 victory for the Parisians).
Only two matches played
The Toulousains are 7th in Pool B, ahead of Stade Français (same number of points), and can no longer be dislodged from the first eight places, synonymous with qualification.
The meeting against Cardiff, scheduled for Saturday, had been canceled due to Covid-19 contamination in the Toulouse ranks and the Welsh club had been declared the winner on the green carpet.
“The risk of additional contamination having been deemed too great, it was unfortunately decided to cancel the match.
Consequently, the Cardiff Rugby club was awarded the Pool B match with the score of 28-0 with five classification points, in accordance with the regulations of the tournament”, indicated the EPCR (European professional club rugby) in a press release.
Against Ulster or Racing in the round of 16
"An iniquitous decision", according to the president of the National Rugby League René Bouscatel, for whom "the EPCR (...) decides to cancel a match by not respecting its rules.
This discredits those who made this decision but also the organizer and the competition itself.
The Toulousains played only two meetings, all away, beating Cardiff (39-7) before losing against Wasps (30-22).
They will face Ulster or Racing in a round-trip match on April 9 and 16.
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European Cup
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