Brilliant victory of the Section Paloise against the Saracens, triple winner of the European Cup, here is for the stroke of humor … The EPCR, organizer of European competitions announces this Wednesday noon that the English are not in a position to argue “safely“the Challenge Cup match scheduled for Saturday evening at Le Hameau, facing the Section Paloise due to a”significant number of players tested positive for Covid-19“. Direct consequence, the Section Paloise won this match on the green carpet, 28-0, an enhanced success worth five points in the standings. The Palois thus come back up to the London Irish who, this Saturday, will host Brive for this second day.
The press release from the EPCR, organizer of the Challenge Cup
“The Saracens informed the EPCR that they had a significant number of players who tested positive for Covid-19. As a result, the club are unable to play their EPCR Challenge Cup Day 2 match against Section Paloise in complete safety, scheduled for this Saturday (December 18).
This match of Pool C, which was to be played at the Stade du Hameau, is therefore canceled and the Section Paloise is considered the winner by a score of 28-0 with five classification points allocated, in accordance with the tournament regulations.
The EPCR would like to stress that the attribution of victory to the Paloise Section is a management measure of the tournament, the objective of which is to ensure that all the results of the matches of the 2021/2022 season of the EPCR Challenge Cup clarified, not a sanction.“