Tigers into knockout stages of Challenge Cup after final two games are cancelled
LEICESTER HAD BEEN DUE TO PLAY BRIVE AND BAYONNE
LEICESTER Tigers’ progression into the knockout stages of the European Challenge Cup has been confirmed with two games to spare.
Steve Borthwick’s side were due to play Brive last night and Bayonne next weekend to conclude their pool stage commitments.
However, the withdrawal of French clubs from both the Champions and Challenge Cup saw the competitions temporarily suspended.
Tigers were well placed to progress to the quarter-finals after beating the Top 14 sides in December’s reverse fixtures.
European Cup organisers (EPCR) have now announced the matches will not be rearranged and the competition will now go into a straight knockout format. The new format for the already revised competitions is expected to be announced early next week.
Two weekends are reserved for European action in April before the finals which are due to take place on the weekend of May 22 in Marseille.
With two weeks suddenly free in their calendar, many club bosses called for Premiership Rugby to bring forward two rounds of fixtures.
Those requests fell on deaf ears as the league was given a two-week rest period ahead of the next round of fixtures that fall on the weekend of January 29, 30 and 31.
Premiership Rugby director Phil Winstanley explained why games were not brought forward.
He said: “This provided us with the perfect opportunity to give the players and staff some downtime,” “We’ve had 70 players in the last three weeks who have tested positive with Covid, and in that period of time we lost five games.
“It made absolutely no sense to bring games forward from later in the season to this period of time, when it is our highest [virus] prevalence and our highest risk.
“It gives us the biggest chance of losing those games and determining the outcome by allocation of points.
That makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.
“There are serious concerns about sport at the moment and how it is portraying itself, and it just presented an opportunity for us to just give ourselves a break and to support the health and welfare of the players.”