Leinster Vs Toulon 2021, Friday the 2nd of April, 5.30pm

[mildlyinterested]

The Rugby Club Toulonnais learned this Friday April 2, 2021 with amazement of the decision of the EPCR to cancel tonight's meeting in Leinster due to the presence of a positive case for COVID-19 in the Red workforce & Black.

While the PCR tests performed on the entire workforce on Monday March 29 had all had negative results, the tests carried out on Wednesday March 31 revealed a positive case, that of a frontline player of the RCT.

In accordance with the protocol, the leaders of the RCT then 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 further questions of the RCT doctor. The latter then answered the entire questionnaire submitted.
The EPCR then made the request to have a "contact tracing" of the player in question. The RCT provided it as soon as possible, specifying that the departure for Ireland was set for Thursday morning (April 1).
The EPCR then analyzed, with the support of an independent doctor, the “contact tracing” file provided by the RCT.
At the end (late Thursday afternoon), the EPCR asked the club to carry out a new PCR test on the entire Red & Black workforce in Ireland.
These tests were therefore 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 as contact cases and that they could not take part in the match, offering the possibility of shifting the meeting on Sunday on condition of replacing the 6 frontline players. An obvious sporting impossibility ...

This is once again proof of the errors linked to the organization of European competitions. The EPCR left the players and staff to go to Ireland, prepare for the match, only to deprive him a few hours before kick-off from participating in this major event.

Rugby Club Toulonnais strongly deplores this decision and sends its thoughts to all its supporters who were impatiently awaiting this meeting.

http://www.rctoulon.com/news/article/le ... actuelles/

[Blueberry]

There’s still no official confirmation that we get the walkover - wonder if they’re trying to get it rescheduled. With it being a bank holiday weekend is there a chance it could be moved to Monday - which would be 5 days from the initial positive test.

That will be a really hard turnaround for next week against either Exeter or Lyon but unfair for us.

A lot of comments saying it’s good for us not having to play this, but I disagree I think it would have been good for us to get a tough game, we could go in undercooked for next game

I agree that we could have done with the game as a test outside of the pro14. Also, I am not sure what to do with my afternoon. Any suggestions.

5.30pm KO in my house is repeat of Leinster v Munster from last weekend. About the only thing I can think of.

[mildlyinterested]

That will be a really hard turnaround for next week against either Exeter or Lyon but unfair for us.

A lot of comments saying it’s good for us not having to play this, but I disagree I think it would have been good for us to get a tough game, we could go in undercooked for next game

I agree that we could have done with the game as a test outside of the pro14. Also, I am not sure what to do with my afternoon. Any suggestions.

5.30pm KO in my house is repeat of Leinster v Munster from last weekend. About the only thing I can think of.

[Blueberry]

The Rugby Club Toulonnais learned this Friday April 2, 2021 with amazement of the decision of the EPCR to cancel tonight's meeting in Leinster due to the presence of a positive case for COVID-19 in the Red workforce & Black.

While the PCR tests performed on the entire workforce on Monday March 29 had all had negative results, the tests carried out on Wednesday March 31 revealed a positive case, that of a frontline player of the RCT.

In accordance with the protocol, the leaders of the RCT then 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 further questions of the RCT doctor. The latter then answered the entire questionnaire submitted.
The EPCR then made the request to have a "contact tracing" of the player in question. The RCT provided it as soon as possible, specifying that the departure for Ireland was set for Thursday morning (April 1).
The EPCR then analyzed, with the support of an independent doctor, the “contact tracing” file provided by the RCT.
At the end (late Thursday afternoon), the EPCR asked the club to carry out a new PCR test on the entire Red & Black workforce in Ireland.
These tests were therefore 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 as contact cases and that they could not take part in the match, offering the possibility of shifting the meeting on Sunday on condition of replacing the 6 frontline players. An obvious sporting impossibility ...

This is once again proof of the errors linked to the organization of European competitions. The EPCR left the players and staff to go to Ireland, prepare for the match, only to deprive him a few hours before kick-off from participating in this major event.

Rugby Club Toulonnais strongly deplores this decision and sends its thoughts to all its supporters who were impatiently awaiting this meeting.

http://www.rctoulon.com/news/article/le ... actuelles/

No winners here..................whole thing is just sh*t.

[mildlyinterested]

Following a meeting by video conference of a Match Day 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 Rugby and RC Toulon which was scheduled for this evening (Friday 2 April) at the RDS Arena.

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 testing.

Although the RC Toulon players and staff who had travelled undertook 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 deemed the match unsafe to play with the participation of those identified contacts.

Having been notified of that position, RC Toulon informed EPCR that they could not select a match day 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.

https://www.epcrugby.com/2021/04/02/lei ... cancelled/

[blockhead]

That will be a really hard turnaround for next week against either Exeter or Lyon but unfair for us.

A lot of comments saying it’s good for us not having to play this, but I disagree I think it would have been good for us to get a tough game, we could go in undercooked for next game

I agree that we could have done with the game as a test outside of the pro14. Also, I am not sure what to do with my afternoon. Any suggestions.

5.30pm KO in my house is repeat of Leinster v Munster from last weekend. About the only thing I can think of.

Well there is London Irish v Cardiff?
SOB on the bench, wee Paddy at 10.

[curates_egg]

Comparing both those statements, this will end up in court if not rescheduled.

Reading through the lines, it seems like EPCR said go ahead and travel, and the Irish health authorities pulled the plug.

Toulon is not the FFR. It is a commercial entity with a financial interest in the outcome.

[wixfjord]

Comparing both those statements, this will end up in court if not rescheduled.
Reading through the lines, it seems like EPCR said go ahead and travel, and the Irish health authorities pulled the plug.

Where exactly are you getting that from?

[Theleinsterlad]

That will be a really hard turnaround for next week against either Exeter or Lyon but unfair for us.

A lot of comments saying it’s good for us not having to play this, but I disagree I think it would have been good for us to get a tough game, we could go in undercooked for next game

I agree that we could have done with the game as a test outside of the pro14. Also, I am not sure what to do with my afternoon. Any suggestions.

5.30pm KO in my house is repeat of Leinster v Munster from last weekend. About the only thing I can think of.

Going to watch the Leinster v Toulouse semi-final in 2019. Great match with the sun shining

[IanD]

Just thinking.....

Did Toulon not pull out of their match against Scarlets with less notice?

Good for the goose good for the bunch of mercenaries from the South of France.

[Xanthippe]

Also, I am not sure what to do with my afternoon. Any suggestions.

Stations of the Cross

[LeRouxIsPHat]

I agree that we could have done with the game as a test outside of the pro14. Also, I am not sure what to do with my afternoon. Any suggestions.

5.30pm KO in my house is repeat of Leinster v Munster from last weekend. About the only thing I can think of.

Well there is London Irish v Cardiff?
SOB on the bench, wee Paddy at 10.

I thought SOB was the wee guy?

[neiliog93]

Pretty devastated tbh. The amount of rugby games being called off compared to football matches is puzzling to me.

Easier to reschedule football games I suppose.

Maybe they don't call off games when everyone has tested negative, unlike rugby.

Can't know for sure but think the problem in this case might be the Irish authorities, who have consistently been the most risk-averse in the EU (just look at the fiasco of mandatory hotel quarantine, which no other EU Member States is doing, or that Ireland has had by far the most missed 'work days' overall in the EU, etc.).

Either way, is it definitely not going to be rescheduled? I guess, there's no time to do so. Real pity.

[Ruckedtobits]

Pretty devastated tbh. The amount of rugby games being called off compared to football matches is puzzling to me.

Ever been in the front-row at a scrumming session? Normally 5 x 4 sets of the closest contact with the hardest of breathing / panting and lots of aerosol type exchanges. Other than being outdoors, it is probably the most acute "close contact" encounter. Absolutely no parallel with football.

[blockhead]

5.30pm KO in my house is repeat of Leinster v Munster from last weekend. About the only thing I can think of.

Well there is London Irish v Cardiff?
SOB on the bench, wee Paddy at 10.

I thought SOB was the wee guy?

[LeRouxIsPHat]

In terms of needing a game I thought this was a big one for our wingers. I'm not as down on Larmour as others but he needs games and I'd have backed Lowe to bounce back from his Ireland troubles. If either of them didn't perform then they would know that DK would get back in next week. ROL probably could have done with another run out too and iron out his passing/communications issues with Larmour.

But on balance I'd take the rest all day long and twice on Sundays. Fatigue was my biggest worry over the next two weekends and we are very thin in certain positions. We saw how wrecked the likes of Beirne and CJ were last week and after getting up for the huge games of the last three weeks I just don't think we'd have been able to sustain a high level of performance right through to next weekend.

[curates_egg]

Comparing both those statements, this will end up in court if not rescheduled.
Reading through the lines, it seems like EPCR said go ahead and travel, and the Irish health authorities pulled the plug.

Where exactly are you getting that from?

Reading through the lines of the Toulon statement and the EPCR statement, in particular, which someone has posted above.

I’m guessing that the match would have gone ahead if it were between two French sides. Certainly, it would have in the Top14, if all players tested negative.*

We’ll find out soon enough.

* If there are 1/2 cases, and they are isolated, and the other players subsequently test negative ahead of the match, it goes ahead. Only after three cases, does a more thorough review come into place.

[Keith]

Pretty devastated tbh. The amount of rugby games being called off compared to football matches is puzzling to me.

Ever been in the front-row at a scrumming session? Normally 5 x 4 sets of the closest contact with the hardest of breathing / panting and lots of aerosol type exchanges. Other than being outdoors, it is probably the most acute "close contact" encounter. Absolutely no parallel with football.

That has absolutely no barring on whether to call matches off whatsoever.

[Oldschool]

Also, I am not sure what to do with my afternoon. Any suggestions.

Stations of the Cross

Leinster treasurer has that covered.
He's busy counting the prize money we get for qualifying for the next round.

[Oldschoolsocks]

Pretty devastated tbh. The amount of rugby games being called off compared to football matches is puzzling to me.

Ever been in the front-row at a scrumming session? Normally 5 x 4 sets of the closest contact with the hardest of breathing / panting and lots of aerosol type exchanges. Other than being outdoors, it is probably the most acute "close contact" encounter. Absolutely no parallel with football.

That has absolutely no barring on whether to call matches off whatsoever.

Which football matches are not being called off?