French rugby bosses are threatening to take European rugby's governing body to court over the decision to award Cardiff a 28-0 walkover against Toulouse.
French club rugby's governing body, Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR), have denounced the move by EPCR to cancel the Champions Cup clash between Toulouse and Cardiff.
Due to positive cases within the French team's camp and the risk of further transmission, the decision was made to cancel the fixture - with Cardiff being awarded their victory.
That decision has been met with fury in France - with both the presidents of the LNR and Toulouse threatening legal action against EPCR.
In a statement from LNR, they "denounced a scandalous and totally unfounded decision", adding that Toulouse had proven they were capable of fielding a team despite positive cases in the camp.
They also accused EPCR of "violating its own regulations", calling the move "incomprehensible" and adding that it "damages the club and the fairness of the competition."
The row comes weeks after the Scarlets and Ospreys were each forced to forfeit games because of Covid.
President of the LNR René Bouscatel, who played for Toulouse and served as their president between 1992 and 2017, said : “The Champions Cup is a very prestigious competition; its organiser cannot allow arbitrary decisions to be made that are contrary to its own rules.
"This decision is irresponsible. I have decided to convene an Steering Committee in urgency to discuss the follow-up, including legal action, to be given to this decision."
Toulouse president Didier Lacroix also hit out, even claiming a decision had already been made by EPCR before a meeting with the French club.
"I've been trying for weeks to shut up," said Lacroix in a French language press conference following the announcement.
"In the face of situations that we have to manage. We will still try to do it. But the anger has risen very, very high in the face of injustice.
"We, for the Cardiff match, could present a team. We had anticipated, we had been rigorous. What I find incredible and scandalous is that the EPCR does not apply the rules that were passed on to us.
"Maybe our team was less competitive. Yes, Antoine Dupont has Covid. Well, we'll play without him!
"Today, the EPCR tells us that the team we present, despite our negative tests, may present a risk of transmission of the virus. Who benefits from the crime? How far are we going to go?"
Lacroix argued EPCR had reached "the height of disrespect" after meeting with Toulouse to decide on the fate of the match when, he claims, the governing body had already made the decision to cancel the fixture and had even informed Cardiff.
Describing the decision as "dirty", he outlined his intention to take legal action.
"Unacceptable. What is our fault? For being able to field a competitive team?"
This isn't the first incident that has marred this season's European competitions - with several inconsistencies between games being either postponed, forfeited or cancelled entirely.
Matches in the first weekend, even when affected by government travel restrictions such as the Scarlets being unable to field a team against Bristol following their South African quarantine, resulted in forfeits and 28-0 defeats.
However, in the second weekend, a host of matches including French sides were postponed rather than cancelled due to French travel restrictions.
That left a number of teams furious, particularly as some matches on the second weekend, such as Leinster's clash with Montpellier, had already been cancelled at this point - meaning the Irish side coughed up a 28-0 defeat for a game that was never going to be played.
For the Scarlets, it meant that one of their matches cancelled for travel restrictions saw Bristol awarded a 28-0 win - but the favour wasn't returned the following week when travel restrictions stopped Bordeaux travelling to Llanelli.
To complicate matters even further, European Rugby then realised that there would not be adequate time to reschedule the postponed fixtures - instead deeming them 0-0 draws much to the ire of the French clubs.
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