No home games for Toulouse in August

Toulouse will not play any games at home this month after their games against Halifax and Batley were cancelled.

France remains on the UK Government’s ‘amber list’, meaning that anyone returning from France who isn’t fully vaccinated must isolate for at least five days on their return.

The next review of the Government’s traffic light system is expected to be on August 26, with there being no guarantee on any loosening of restrictions on travel to France.

Part-time teams are not required to play in France due to the impact on their jobs outside of rugby league.

Toulouse’s games against Halifax and Batley cannot be re-arranged as there are no available slots in the season. Toulouse have yet to play at their home ground in 2021, having played two ‘home’ matches against Widnes and Swinton in England.

The French club continue to fulfil their away fixtures as scheduled, with their players required to quarantine (other than for training) for seven days on their return to France.

The Championship table is based on points percentage this year due to the ongoing threat of postponements and cancellations caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Points percentage is calculated by the number of matches won by a club, divided by the number of matches played, multiplied by 50.

The RFL board previously ruled that Toulouse matches postponed as a result of the current regulations will not count as cancelled for either Toulouse or their opponents.

Toulouse currently sit at the top of the Championship table having won all 11 of their games so far this season.

Meanwhile, promotion and relegation to and from Super League is still set to go ahead at the end of the season.

There has been some conjecture over whether the goal posts will once again be moved, including an erroneous report by the BBC on their live Challenge Cup final coverage that relegation will not take place this year.

But officials from the RFL and Super League have confirmed to us that there have been no formal discussions around removing relegation.

An RFL spokesperson said: “There is no change – it’s still one up, one down.

“There has been acknowledgement from Super League, and an emphasis from us, that Championship clubs can’t be blamed (for the impact of COVID) and that promotion can’t be affected.”