An unintended consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic, a 28-0 epidemic hits European rugby this weekend. Already widely modified, in order to limit club travel and the risk of spreading the new coronavirus, the new formula of the European Rugby Cup is being overtaken by the pandemic. First by the cancellations of meetings – three this weekend, from the second day of the competition. But also by the refusal of RC Toulon to face the Scarlets of Llanelli, Friday, December 18, worried about a case of Covid-19 in the Welsh ranks, which comes to upset European competition.
Scheduled this weekend, La Rochelle-Bath, Toulouse-Exeter and Glasgow-Lyon could not take place, for reasons related to the coronavirus – either because players were in isolation, because of contact, or to cause of players affected by Covid-19. In a regulation as only rugby knows how to concoct, a team is declared victorious if, when its opponent has to forfeit due to proven cases of Covid-19 or simple contact cases, the tests carried out on its workforce turn out to be negative. A victory “with the swab”, therefore, rewarded plus an offensive bonus point.
The clubs “responsible” for these cancellations being the three British clubs, their French opponents were declared winners on the green carpet (28-0, ie the improved victory), in accordance with the protocol decreed by the ECPR (European Professional Club Rugby ).
Toulon, first club to withdraw for “health reasons”
Forced to deal with a tight schedule – the final of the 2019-2020 edition only dates back to October – and a resurgence of the pandemic on the continent, the organizer of European competitions – the Champions Cup and its little sister, the Challenge Cup – had largely revised the formula of its flagship competition, to prevent the risk of contamination. Each club plays only four games (against two opponents only), which brings the European Cup closer to a knockout phase.
During the weekend, a new imbroglio stirred the oval: in turn, the meeting to oppose Llanelli and Toulon on Friday did not take place. Not this time after a decision by the ECPR, but a choice of the Var club not to appear on the Welsh lawn. After a Scarlets player tested positive and placed in isolation, the RCT gave up playing the game, failing to understand that the organizers would maintain it when they canceled the scheduled one between La Rochelle and Bath on Saturday. The EPCR explains it by the absence of twelve players from the English club, contact case of that of the Scarlets since the match between the two teams last week (victory of Llanelli 23-19), which prevented Bath “To align a team of a sufficient level” facing the Rochelais ,.
Believing that “The sanitary conditions were not met” and regretting the lack of response when the number of contact cases among Welsh players, the RCT judges to have been forced to take “A heartbreaking decision”, to protect its players. And became the first club to forfeit for health reasons. After the Var club’s refusal to postpone the match to Sunday, the organizer sanctioned Toulon with a defeat on the green carpet.
Asked Saturday by Agence France Presse (AFP), the director general of the EPCR Vincent Gaillard said “Strongly deplored the decision of the Racing Club de Toulon not to play a match which seemed to us to be playable in terms of health”, specifying that in the eyes of the organizers, ” everything necessary was done to confirm that this match could be played unlike the other three. “ A verdict called into question Toulon, which regrets “A lack of foresight of which we are victims” from the ECPR after the meeting between Bath and Llanelli, and is considering an appeal.
In this competition cut off from four games, the rest of the games went off without a hitch. The only French representative spared the consequences of the coronavirus on Saturday, Clermont narrowly bowed on his lawn against the Irish of Munster (31-39). But the sporting stake of the queen competition in Europe is likely to depend more on the results of the tests than on the game developed by the teams.
The reigning European champion threatened
At this domino game, the outgoing champion, the English of Exeter, fell in turn. Winners of Racing 92 in the final of the previous edition in October – pandemic obliges – the Devon players saw their chances of achieving the double reduced to almost nil with their forfeit imposed in the shock against Toulouse Stadium. With the Exeter workforce counting a multitude of players affected by Covid-19, the EPCR has decided to cancel this revenge of the spectacular semi-final of the previous season. This defeat on the green carpet (28-0) could prevent the Chiefs to qualify for the quarter-finals of the revisited competition.
The organizer specifies in his press release not to blame the clubs hit by the pandemic, but to have decided “With a view to facilitating the completion of this Champions Cup season under unprecedented circumstances”.
Circumstances that compromise the sporting stakes of the competition, Toulon already planning to leave the competition aside during the following meetings. “Against Llanelli in Mayol, for the next match, maybe we will send juniors, declared Saturday the Toulon president, Bernard Lemaître, questioned by Olympic noon. Then we’ll go to Sale, so what? We are not going to play the game. The RCT is frustrated, ridiculed, insulted… ” Difficult to see clearly in this convoluted competition, where the swab is almost as important as the oval ball
