Tuesday, December 14, 2021 | 9°C Dublin

Leinster will participate in their second Champions League match in Montpellier on Friday night. Image source: Sportsfile.

In view of the positive Covid-19 cases in the team last week, Leinster postponed today's training.

Before heading to France for the Heineken Champions Cup against Montpellier on Friday, the latest developments furthered the work.

Last week, three senior players and a staff member tested positive, but Saturday's game against Bath continued as planned, and Leinster won easily 45-20.

The wider Leinster team will undergo further testing today, and then they hope to resume training tomorrow.

Due to the short preparation time for the Montpellier conflict, this is another headache for Leo Cullen.

Leinster was also scheduled to hold a weekly (virtual) press conference this afternoon, but this was also postponed until tomorrow.

A statement from the province read: “Given that the Leinster Rugby team had a positive Covid-19 case prior to Saturday’s Heineken Champions Cup match against Bath Rugby, the Leinster Rugby team will conduct another report at its UCD base today. A complete round of antigen and PCR testing.

"As a further precaution, the training at UCD today has been postponed to tomorrow until all the results are confirmed.

IRFU and EPCR have been consulted before making this decision, which is in the best interest of Leinster Rugby players and staff. "

At the same time, Montpellier was also affected by the Covid outbreak, as four members of their wider team tested positive.

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Last Friday, before the French team lost to Exeter, two staff members tested positive, and after returning from England, two other players also tested positive.

Like Leinster, today's training session was postponed, and everyone was tested before being sent home to quarantine. Montpellier will resume training tomorrow, but the test result is negative.

In order not to affect the preparations for the trip to Biarritz on December 27th, players who did not go to Exeter will be trained separately.

It remains to be seen what effect the interruption of the two sides will have on Friday night's clash, any cancellation will result in a 28-0 victory for the team deemed not responsible for the outbreak.

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