European rugby chiefs insist the remaining two rounds of pool fixtures will go ahead as planned later this month after confirming clubs and match officials would be granted the necessary exemptions from French travel restrictions.
The organisers, European Professional Club Rugby, were left scrambling to salvage this season’s Champions and Challenge Cups last month when a raft of matches had to be scrapped after France effectively shut its borders to the UK. That, in turn, plunged rounds three and four of the pool stages into doubt, but EPCR revealed on Friday that exemptions for the “pursuit of an economic activity” applies to players, coaching staff and officials.
Completing this season’s competitions remains fraught with difficulty with EPCR trying to shoehorn rearranged fixtures into a cluttered calendar while the spectre of Covid still hangs over this month’s fixtures considering clubs in the Premiership, Top14 and URC continue to be hit by outbreaks. The exemptions do, however, give hope that the tournaments will be played out in some guise after the Sale director of rugby, Alex Sanderson, had warned the competitions were “in trouble” amid fears of an untenable backlog of fixtures. Sanderson also raised concerns that Sale might not be able to field a competitive team against Clermont on Sunday week given the additional red tape facing his South African players before they were allowed into France.
In better news for EPCR, however, the French sports minister Roxana Maracineanu has said that sportspeople coming to France to compete are set to be exempt from rules that would require full vaccination. An EPCR statement read: “While recognising that these are particularly challenging times for all its stakeholders, EPCR will continue to work with the leagues and unions so that this month’s matches can be played safely.
“EPCR is optimistic that this season’s tournaments will be played to a successful conclusion. In addition, discussions are ongoing regarding the five Champions Cup and two Challenge Cup round two fixtures which were postponed due to unforeseen circumstances arising from changes to border controls between France and the UK.”
Meanwhile, Cardiff have confirmed that their fixture against Harlequins next Friday will take place behind closed doors after Wales’s first minister Mark Drakeford confirmed current restrictions will remain in place for the time being. That further raises the prospect of Wales having to play their two home Six Nations fixtures behind closed doors, with the Welsh Rugby Union exploring the possibility of moving those matches to England.
“I make no criticism of the WRU for exploring all the options that are available to them,” Drakeford said. “The issue that is under the microscope is whether we can do that safely. Whether the number of people falling ill with the virus is so high that adding further to that risk simply would not be a responsible thing to do. I know it’s really difficult when you’re organising a major event and you’re under the pressure of time, but we won’t know that for the next couple of weeks.”
