The French Government have waded into the attack on European Professional Club Rugby following Toulouse's cancelled pool match against Cardiff.
The defending champions were set to welcome Cardiff to France before a number of positive Covid-19 tests in the hosts’ camp saw the match cancelled.
While the French outfit claimed to have enough Covid-free players to field a side, European rugby's governing body deemed the risk of transmission too great. It's worth noting, as with all cancelled matches on the weekend, that EPCR stressed the decision was "not a sanction".
They also confirmed that Cardiff had been awarded the fixture by a 28-0 scoreline with five match points - which did put Toulouse' chances of qualifying for the knockout stages in doubt.
Toulouse would ultimately qualify to face Ulster in a two-legged round of 16 match, but the initial decision led the presidents of both Toulouse and French club rugby's governing body to threaten legal action - with the latter describing events as “scandalous and totally unfounded”.
And now France's Minister of Sport, Roxana Maracineanu, has contacted the president of EPCR to express her "misunderstanding" of the decision they claim "discredits the health protocol" of French rugby.
In a letter seen by AFP, she wrote: "I am awaiting an explanation of the reasons which led you to sanction Stade Toulousain when it had a full team to play the match against Cardiff and scrupulously respected the authentic LNR protocol to participate. at the European Cup, as indicated in your regulations."
In the letter, Maracineanu notes that France has put in place “a demanding and effective strategy to fight against the epidemic” and that their ministry “has validated the protocol presented by the Ligue Nationale de Rugby”, which they believe to be “extremely robust".
She also added that "Stade Toulouse had made the responsible choice to test very widely within the club, including the administrative staff, in order to immediately put anyone infected in isolation, avoid any start of a cluster and always maintain a sufficient workforce to calmly compete in the European Championship and Cup".
She then called the cancellation an "incomprehensible" decision that "penalises an exemplary club in its management of the crisis".
And she finished by claiming that the sanction discredits the health protocols of French sport.
“This responsible and transparent approach is today sanctioned by your decision," she wrote. "Beyond the moral and sporting consequences for the club and its players, your incomprehensible decision discredits the health protocol of our championship and all of French sport. It is totally incomprehensible”.
Not everyone in French rugby is in uproar, with Bordeaux Begles boss Christophe Urios claiming that it is hard to view these events as a scandal.
“First of all, it’s a sensitive subject for me because it’s my sport, it’s the European Cup and it’s Toulouse that is affected,” Urios wrote for RMC in France. “In Top 14, when you are hit by the Covid, if you are able to present fifteen professional players, including six on the front line, you have to play the match.
“In the Champions Cup, as far as I know, there are no rules. It is at the discretion of a commission that relies in particular on experts from the LNR. So even if Toulouse was able to field a good team, they agreed by the number of players affected during the week that the risk of a cluster was high. So they canceled the game.”
“For me there is no scandal. I don’t think there is. The rule of the European Cup is not to postpone a match.”
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