Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Wales Online
Wales Online
Sport
Simon Thomas

Cardiff's European Champions Cup match with Toulouse now in doubt

Doubt surrounds Cardiff’s Champions Cup clash away to Toulouse due to a number of Covid cases within the French club.

Dai Young’s men are due to take on the European champions at the Stade Ernest Wallon on Saturday afternoon.

But the French media are reporting there are several positive cases of Covid within the Toulouse camp.

The reports indicate a handful of players were ruled out of last weekend’s clash with Wasps due to infections and that further cases were detected at the start of this week.

Toulouse are carrying out another round of tests today, as is the standard procedure 48 hours before a European match.

So it remains to be seen what the findings of those will be and whether the Cardiff game will be able to go ahead.

The Welsh region are due to fly out to France on Friday lunchtime, so are monitoring the situation closely.

If the game was called off due to Covid cases in the Toulouse camp, then the competition rules indicate Cardiff would be awarded a 28-0 victory.

That would increase the chances of the Arms Park outfit progressing to the knock-out stages of Europe, potentially in the Challenge Cup.

Toulouse will be very keen for the game to go ahead as they need a win to nail down qualification for the last 16 of the Champions Cup.

They lie seventh in their pool, having only picked up two points from their games against Wasps with the first match being called off due to French travel restrictions and the second ending in a 30-22 defeat in Coventry.

That followed a 39-7 victory over a cobbled together Cardiff team in their opening group match at the Arms Park.

It’s reported that Toulouse have put back their pre-match press conference to Friday as they await test results.

A Cardiff spokesperson said: “A process will be being followed, under competition protocols, with testing two days before the game.

“We are waiting to hear more news on the situation.

“We will wait for EPCR to inform us of the position, but as it stands, we are still travelling tomorrow.”

Want the latest Welsh rugby news sent straight to you? Look no further.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.