The RFL Board has awarded Toulouse Olympique a 24-0 win for their home Betfred Championship fixture against London Broncos after the Broncos advised this week they would not be prepared to travel to France for the fixture as scheduled on April 17.
The Broncos will also be referred to the RFL Compliance Department for off-field misconduct - failure to fulfil a fixture.
The RFL Board ruled in March that the match should go ahead as scheduled despite the change in UK Government quarantine restrictions affecting France, on the basis the Broncos are a full-time club.
The RFL’s Covid Regulatory Framework allows for matches to be postponed if a club has seven or more players unavailable as a result of positive Covid-19 tests or Test and Trace close contact analysis.
The Framework states that other than in those circumstances,
Where a Club is unable to fulfil a Match due to player availability…the RFL Board shall order that the Club unable to fulfil the Match shall forfeit the Match and the points awarded to its opponent (with a deemed score of 24 – 0 to the opponent). In the case of the Club forfeiting the Match, the Match shall not count towards the number of Matches required to qualify for the Play Offs.
This means that Toulouse are now deemed to have played two matches in the 2021 Betfred Championship season, and London Broncos one. Clubs are required to have played in 70% of their scheduled fixtures to be eligible for the top six Play-Offs.
