1
Champions Cup restart thrown into chaos by Leinster versus Toulon cancellation
By Liam Heagney
This Friday's Heineken Champions Cup restart has been thrown into chaos following the cancellation of the plum Leinster versus Toulon round of 16 tie that was due to have played in Dublin with a 5.30pm kickoff. Less than five hours before that start time, it was confirmed by EPCR on social media that the match was cancelled but no reason was initially given.
It's the second time this season that a Champions Cup game involving Toulon has been cancelled shortly before kickoff. Last December they arrived in Wales to face Scarlets but they never left Cardiff airport due to concerns about the safety bubble surrounding the match and they flew home.
With no chance of the Leinster versus Toulon game being staged at another time this Easter weekend, it has plunged the Champions Cup back into uncertainty as the winners of this match at the RDS were due to travel next weekend to the winners of this Saturday's game between defending champions Exeter and Lyon.
An email from Leinster to media accreditated to attend the match stated: "Please note that today’s Heineken Champions Cup game against RC Toulon is off. On behalf of Leinster, I apologise for any inconvenience caused and I hope you all enjoy the rest of the weekend."
A statement from EPCR was eventually issued around 90 minutes after it first emerged that the match was cancelled. It read: "Following a meeting by video conference of a matchday medical risk assessment committee comprising medical leads from the unions, league bodies and both clubs, with input from the public health authorities in Ireland, it has been decided to cancel the Heineken Champions Cup round of 16 match between Leinster and Toulon.
"The committee, which received independent medical advice from Dr Brendan Payne (England) and Dr Daniel Koch (Switzerland), was informed that a Toulon player, who did not travel to Ireland, had tested positive for Covid-19 as part of the club’s routine testing.
"Although the Toulon players and staff who had travelled undertook an additional round of PCR testing in Dublin on Thursday which revealed no positive results, the committee concluded there were a number of high-risk contacts with the player who had tested positive and deemed the match unsafe to play with the participation of those identified contacts.
"Having been notified of that position, Toulon informed EPCR that they could not select a matchday squad to safely fulfil the fixture. Having explored all possible alternative arrangements to facilitate the staging of the fixture, it was decided that the match could not be played safely given both the current public health guidelines in Ireland and EPCR’s covid-19 protocol.
"A match result resolution committee will be convened as soon as practicable to determine the outcome of the fixture."
Trending on RugbyPass
2
Four England talking points after their Six Nations rout of Wales
3
What Steve Borthwick told Matt Sherratt following Wales debacle
4
England player ratings vs Wales | 2025 Six Nations
5
Latest Comments
My name is Amelia Jonathan from the United States, Using this opportunity to thank Dr. Ughulu is a grateful thing to me, for over years I have been sick with Hepatitis B disease, I have done a lot of things to get cured of my diseases and nothing has worked out. I have taken different types of medication for it , but it still doesn’t work for me. I still keep going for a check up so that the doctor will tell me my disease has be gone, because i’m taking my medicine with no result nothing has been cured, I have spent a lot of money just to get cure of Hepatitis B. until my old time friend came to my place and saw what am going through, and then direct me to contact Dr. Ughulu who is a very powerful man, which I did explain my problem to Dr. Ughulu and send me a herbal remedy bottle and explain to me how I should drink it. So I started to drink the herbal tea in one week that I drink the herbal tea. I went for a check up to check if I’m cured from Hepatitis B disease, then the nurse told me nothing is wrong with me anymore and said I’m fine. I am the happiest person right now. I promise Dr Ughulu I will testify about his good work on the internet. Reach out to Dr. Ughulu Via: drughulupowerfulspelltemple@gmail.com Thank you so much sir for what you did for me you’re the best of all. TEXT OR CALL: +1(252) 409-1841 or website: https://drughulupowerfulsp.wixsite.com/my-site-ughulu WHATSAPP NUMBER: +1(720) 794-2516
Go to commentsI’d take the Sharks, Stormers, Bulls, and Lions back in a second. Super Rugby Pacific is improving and the conference system sucked ass and never should have been implemented but if you think the quality of rugby is better without the South African franchises, you are kidding yourself.
And there is nothing authentic about Moana Pacifika, it is a sixth NZ franchise. Almost all of the players are NZ citizens, born and raised in NZ, were developed by NZ secondary schools and play in the NPC. The players just happen to be of Pacific heritage (just as there are a very large number of Pacific heritage players on the original five NZ franchises). Moana Pacifika is a marketing ploy for Auckland’s second SRP franchise.
Fiji Drua are legitimately a Pacific island team. Most players are born in Fiji, the players live and train in Fiji, and they play their home matches in Fiji.
Go to comments