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Rugby

17th Nov 2015

Leinster the losers on proposed date for postponed Champions Cup games

Derby dismay

Gareth Makim

This would be certain to cause ructions.

Reliable Welsh rugby writer Simon Thomas appears to have the scoop on European Rugby’s proposed date to reschedule last weekend’s postponed Champions Cup and Challenge Cup fixtures, and it looks set to drag Leinster into the mire of fixture congestion.

Thomas reports that the weekend of November 28-29 has been chosen and that domestic games in France involving teams who had games cancelled in the wake of the tragic attacks in Paris on Friday last will be put back to later in the season.

Bath owner Bruce Craig has been vocal in his opposition to squeezing an extra fixture into the Premiership team’s calendar, claiming his club have no free dates remaining, but under this plan their league game with Leicester would be put on hold to allow them travel to Toulon.

Closer to home, Leinster would be the unwitting losers as Ulster would travel to Oyonnax to play their game, meaning the Pro12 derby at the RDS scheduled for Friday the 27th would have to be squeezed in later in the year, possibly during one of the Celtic competition’s free weekends during the Six Nations, a time when the Dublin side will likely be more severely weakened by international call-ups.

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