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The Leinster Champions Cup round of 16 match against Toulon has been canceled, the EPCR has confirmed.
The match was scheduled for Friday at the RDS Arena, but a positive test in the French squad forced it to be canceled.
Toulon’s team of the day is already in Dublin for the match and while the EPCR has yet to officially confirm what will happen next, Leinster is expected to advance to the quarter-finals.
An EPCR statement read: “The Committee, which received independent medical advice from Dr Brendan Payne (England) and Dr Daniel Koch (Switzerland), was informed that an RC Toulon player, who did not travel to Ireland, had tested positive for COVID. 19 as part of the club’s routine tryouts.
“Although RC Toulon players and staff who had traveled conducted an additional round of PCR testing in Dublin yesterday (Thursday 1 April) which revealed no positive results, the Committee concluded that there were a number of high-risk contacts with the player who had tested positive and considered that the match was not safe to play with the participation of the identified contacts.
“Having been notified of that position, RC Toulon informed EPCR that they could not select a team for match day to safely comply with the match.
“Having explored all possible alternative arrangements to facilitate the organization of the match, it was decided that the match could not be played safely given current public health guidelines in Ireland and the EPCR COVID-19 protocol.
“A Match Results Resolution Committee will be convened as soon as possible to determine the outcome of the match.”
Unhappy toulon
The president of Toulon, Bernard Lemaitre, expressed his dissatisfaction with the whole situation.
“It’s disgusting, the player tested positive on Wednesday and was immediately isolated,” he told Midi Olympique.
“The EPCR was informed immediately, but let’s go to Dublin. For more than 24 hours. And despite a new total negative test from the players last night at 8pm, these people made this decision less than five hours before the game. “
The French club also issued a strong statement, saying: “Rugby Club Toulonnais learned this Friday, April 2, 2021 with astonishment of the EPCR’s decision to cancel tonight’s meeting in Leinster due to the presence of a positive case of COVID-19 in the Red & Black staff.
“Although the PCR tests carried out on the entire squad on Monday March 29 and all gave negative results, the tests carried out on Wednesday March 31 revealed a positive case, that of a first-line player from RCT.
“In accordance with protocol, RCT leaders immediately notified the EPCR and the National Rugby League. The player in question was placed in solitary confinement.
“The EPCR responded a few hours later to ask the RCT doctor more questions. The latter then answered the entire questionnaire presented.
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“The EPCR then requested to have a ‘contact tracing’ of the player in question. The RCT provided it as soon as possible, specifying that the departure to Ireland was scheduled for Thursday morning (April 1).
“The EPCR then analyzed, with the support of an independent physician, the ‘contact tracing’ file provided by RCT. At the end (Thursday afternoon), the EPCR asked the club to carry out a new PCR test on the entire red and black squad present in Ireland.
“Therefore these tests were carried out last night 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 front lines were considered contact cases and that they could not participate in the match, offering the possibility of changing the match on Sunday on condition of replacing the six front-line players. An obvious sports impossibility.
“This is once again proof of the errors related to the organization of the European competitions. The EPCR allowed players and staff to go to Ireland to prepare for the match, only to deprive them a few hours before the start of participating in this great event.
“Rugby Club Toulonnais deeply regrets this decision and sends its thoughts to all its supporters who were eagerly awaiting this meeting.”
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