Leinster are furious that their appeal to Champions Cup bosses to declare their clash with Montpellier as a draw has fallen on deaf ears.
Due to fly to France on tomorrow morning ahead of the scheduled second round pool game at 8pm Irish time, the Blues were told by EPCR this afternoon that Montpellier would be awarded a 28-0 victory and five points following the fixture cancellation due to Covid fears.
The decision was made by EPCR after a noon meeting as the tournament organisers acted on the advice of their Match Risk Assessment Committee - made up of a medical advisory group and an independent specialist with experience in virology.
The committee had monitored the situation throughout the week after Leinster and Montpellier revealed they were dealing with positive Covid cases within their clubs.
In a statement, Leinster's management expressed "disappointment" with the ruling but the reality is that Leinster are fuming.
The province insist that they had a group of 40 ready to travel for the game, a group that had taken five antigen tests and four PCR tests during the week.
"At all times Leinster Rugby has complied with all measures and protocols required of the club by EPCR, and by the HSE, and will continue to do so," stated the Blues.
Being forced to forfeit the game leaves them with an uphill task to qualify for the knock-outs - and possible home quarter-final and semi-finals - as a top seed.
They face must-win ties with Montpellier and Bath in January.
Head coach Leo Cullen had made eight changes to his starting line-up from last Saturday's win over Bath and was ready to hand out five European debuts.
The group were tested again today, and were to be tested before the flight.
The Blues argued with EPCR that Public Health Ireland had signed off on the group travelling to France, but to no avail.
Leinster had revealed three positive Covid cases for senior players ahead of last week's opening win over Bath, then cancelled training on Monday for a further round of PCR testing and that uncovered several more positive cases.
Montpellier, meanwhile, had five positive Covid cases on Monday - in the wake of their opening pool loss at Exeter.
However that was the last time they reported a positive test and because Leinster reported more throughout the week, they were deemed by EPCR to be at fault for the game not going ahead.
The Blues question that judgement, in particular after Wasps v Munster went ahead despite the number of Covid cases in both camps.
"If the panel felt the fixture was too risky to go ahead, fair enough, but how can the blame be put on one side if both are cleared and good to go," a Leinster source said.
Montpellier boss Phillipe Saint-Andre gave his reaction tonight.
"Leinster, they had a lot of cases on Monday, even more yesterday," he remarked.
“We did not know which variant impacted the Leinster players. We asked the questions, we were ready to play but we had to be sure not to have more players infected by the Covid.
“We had a bad experience last year when we played in Bayonne and we closed the club for two weeks. For us, the priority was the health and safety of our players and avoiding having a cluster.
“I wanted medical security without any risk. The medical commission, aided by an outside specialist, said there was a risk because there is a cluster in Leinster.
"We have announced a team with the return of Haouas and Willemse. They announced a team without a right pillar on the bench.
"They were also struggling to make a team. We prepared mentally and psychologically to play this match before the decision.
“We hoped that the covid was behind us, especially since all the players and staff are vaccinated.
“We took five points. We are going to have two league matches and then two European Cup matches. We are still in the race and in January we will try to take as many points as possible to qualify.”
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