Champions Cup quarters are put on hold
EUROPEAN rugby chiefs are set to postpone Leinster and Ulster’s forthcoming Heineken Champions Cup quarter-finals this afternoon as the sporting lockdown due to the spread of the coronavirus continues across the globe. EPCR, the tournament organisers, are holding a board meeting today via conference call and it is expected that the eagerly-anticipated weekend of knockout matches which were set to take place across the weekend of April 5/6 will be suspended indefinitely today. Leo Cullen’s all-conquering Leinster were set to face Saracens in the box-office Saturday evening slot at the Aviva, while Ulster were set to take on Toulouse on their home turf the following day. Both of those quarter-final clashes, along with Clermont v Racing 92 and Exeter Chiefs v Northampton, are all set to be put on ice, however. The move comes after the Pro14, Six Nations, Top14 and Super Rugby competitions all agreed to halt their campaigns in response to the containment of COVID-19. It remains unclear when that round of European fixtures will take place, with the semi-finals currently scheduled to go ahead on the opening weekend of May. The English Premiership is expected to follow suit and call a halt to domestic proceedings this afternoon. It is believed that the 12 clubs will follow the lead of the Pro14 and Top14 and suspend all action until at least the end of March. Yesterday, Munster and Ireland wing Keith Earls gave an impassioned plea to the public to heed the advice of medical professionals following the outbreak of the virus on these shores. ‘As a father of a child with a serious respiratory lung condition and many others like her, I urge the public to please listen to the professionals. I will do everything I can to protect her,’ he wrote. ‘Everyone has a part to play. I’m usually a private person but the actions of some people are really starting to worry me. This is an extremely worrying and scary time and we all need to take immediate action. Please.’ English Premiership rugby will be suspended for at least a month when club chiefs discuss the matter via a conference call this morning. As of last night, most clubs were still gathering their players for training this morning, despite the impending news. What is not yet certain is the length of the shutdown, though the most conservative estimates are that a four-week Premiership hiatus is likely. English league organisers PRL will probably leave the clubs to decide whether players should train or gather during the week. The Premiership has nine rounds left, plus two semi-finals and a final. For EPCR, the Heineken Champions Cup and Challenge Cup organisers, the matter is simpler, with 14 games over three weekends remaining. Playing matches behind closed doors is not a viable option. One senior Premiership club source suggested to Sportsmail that teams would lose around £500,000 a match if they were unable to take gate receipts or sell matchday food and drink. Some staff, especially commercial and media teams, at Premiership clubs are working from home and more will be advised to do so. Meanwhile, the Welsh Rugby Union have defended taking ticket money from disgruntled clubs despite the late postponement of the Scotland Six Nations game. At 9.30am on Friday, hundreds of Welsh clubs were charged by direct debit for tickets they had been allocated for the match – some to the tune of £15,000 – as it was declared on.
“It’s evolving and we’ll wait for the advice”