Rugby: Toulouse-Cardiff canceled, the Welsh winners on green carpet
Lhe clash between Toulouse and Cardiff, which was to be held on Saturday January 22, was canceled due to Covid-19 contamination in the Toulouse ranks. Cardiff have been declared the winners on green carpet, the organizers announced on Friday. “The risk of additional contamination having been deemed too great, it was unfortunately decided to cancel the match. As a result, the Cardiff Rugby club was awarded the Pool B match 28-0 with five ranking points, in accordance with the tournament rules,” said EPCR (European Professional Club Rugby). in a press release.
The president of Stade Toulousain, Didier Lacroix, cried “injustice” concerning this decision which deprives his team of a chance to comfortably ensure their qualification for the knockout stages. Before the kick off of the 4and group stage day, the five-time European champion is in seventh place and must finish in the top eight of group B to access the next stage.
Castres, the Wasps, the French Stadium and the Scarlets can still mathematically pass him, but it will take a disaster scenario for Toulouse to be eliminated. The Haut-Garonne management did not wish to communicate the number of positive cases of Covid-19 in its ranks, nor the identity of the contaminated players, but several French internationals, normally holders, did not appear in the composition decided for the meeting: Antoine Dupont, Romain Ntamack, Cyril Baille, Peato Mauvaka and Anthony Jelonch.
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