Leinster are unhappy that they have been obliged to forfeit Friday night’s Heineken Champions Cup pool match against Montpellier at the GGL stadium following a decision by EPC Rugby to award the French club a 28-0 victory and five match points in accordance with the tournament rules.
The Irish province rejected an assertion from EPC Rugby that they weren’t in a position to safely fulfil the fixture and expressed their acute disappointment to tournament organisers at the ruling as the 23-man Leinster squad announced at midday on Thursday had come through rigorous testing and been cleared to travel by Public Health Ireland.
Leinster issued a statement in which they sought to clarify that they were in a position to play the game. It read: “Leinster Rugby team management has expressed its disappointment with EPCR over the decision to award a 28-0 win in Montpellier’s favour.
| The #LeinsterRugby team management have expressed their disappointment at the decision of EPCR to award a 28-0 win to Montpellier.
— Leinster Rugby (@leinsterrugby) December 16, 2021
More: https://t.co/qQf3lOtu12#HeinekenChampionsCup pic.twitter.com/XP8stVPFht
“The Leinster Rugby squad and staff have had five rounds of Antigen tests and four rounds of PCR tests in the last six days and a group of players and staff who have all come through each stage of those tests, had been selected to represent the club in France and arrangements made accordingly.”
The latter is a reference to the fact that Leinster had rescheduled their charter flight until Friday morning. The statement continued: “As a result of these test results and the measures implemented by Leinster Rugby, a letter was issued today, Thursday, 16th December 2021, to Leinster Rugby from Public Health Ireland confirming that the group could travel to France for the game.
“At all times Leinster Rugby has complied with all measures and protocols required of the club by EPCR, and by the HSE, and will continue to do so.
“While we are disappointed with the outcome of today’s decision by EPCR, our focus now is the health and well-being of all our players and staff and we would like to put on record, as a club, our sincere thanks to Prof. John Ryan and all the medical team supporting those players and staff.”
EPC Rugby released a statement of its own outlining that on foot of medical advice they had been obliged to cancel the fixture on the basis of “new positive Covid test results from the Leinster Rugby playing squad.”
The implication was that Leinster had suffered more positive tests in the matchday 23 that they had named to travel to France; that isn’t the case and is undoubtedly a source of annoyance for the Irish province.
The EPC Rugby statement read: “Following a meeting of an independent Match Risk Assessment Committee, EPCR has been advised that the Heineken Champions Cup, Round 2 fixture between Montpellier Hérault Rugby and Leinster Rugby scheduled for Friday, December 17th, at the GGL Stadium cannot go ahead safely.
“The contest in Pool A is therefore cancelled with Montpellier Hérault Rugby awarded the match on a 28-0, five match points basis, in accordance with the Tournament Rules.
“The Match Risk Assessment Committee, made up of medical doctors from EPCR’s Medical Advisory Group as well as an independent medical specialist with experience in virology, advised EPCR of its concerns following new positive Covid-19 test results from the Leinster Rugby playing squad, and regrettably the decision was made to cancel the match.
“EPCR would like to acknowledge the efforts by both clubs to fulfil the fixture, and would also like to emphasise that awarding the match to Montpellier is a tournament management measure with the objective of ensuring that all fixtures in the 2021/22 Heineken Champions Cup are accounted for, and not a sanction.”
Leinster’s issue is that they are adamant they are in a position to fulfil the fixture. Earlier this week they cancelled a training session as they sought to establish the players that were Covid-free and also put back their charter flight until Friday morning.
EPC Rugby’s ruling means that Leinster have one win, a bonus point victory over Bath, from their opening two matches ahead of January’s final pool matches which involve travelling to the English club at the Rec and hosting Montpellier in Dublin. Eight teams from each Pool of 12 clubs qualify for the Round of 16, home and away matches next April. It puts a little bit of a squeeze on Leinster to win both games.
The problem is, with the huge jump in case numbers as a result of the Omicron variant, the tournament has been plunged into a crisis with further fixture cancellations anticipated. European rugby’s governing body met with French clubs following Thursday’s directive from the French government restricting travel from Britain to France with immediate effect to try and see if matches could go ahead this weekend.
