Bath ‘desperate’ to fulfil Toulon Champions Cup fixture

Bath say they are desperate to play their postponed European Champions Cup game with Toulon but have warned tournament organisers they are risking player safety if it takes place in midweek.

The Aviva Premiership side’s Champions Cup opener at the reigning champions on Sunday was called off after Friday’s terrorist attacks in Paris.

Ulster’s trip to Oyonnax, Glasgow’s game at Racing 92 and Sunday’s game between Bordeaux-Begles and Clermont Auvergne were also called off.

That has left tournament organisers with a huge headache as there are no free weekends in the packed European schedule and it has raised the prospect of Bath playing Toulon in midweek.

The Premiership side are not keen to do that and there had been suggestions owner, Bruce Craig, who is also on the European Professional Club Rugby board but is not taking part in the rescheduling process due to his conflict of interest, would prefer to split the points between the two sides.

And while assistant coach Toby Booth says that is definitely not the case, he has warned there is a real risk for the players if they are forced to play in midweek.

“We are desperate to play it,” said Booth, whose side host Leinster this weekend. “I have spoken to Bruce and he has been waiting three years for this fixture.

It is an important fixture for him. So we are looking forward to playing there, but the question is when.

“We don’t want to devalue the competition and playing three games in a week is tough. With the player welfare hat on and the fact the schedules are what they are, it is a difficult juggling act. Player welfare has to be at the centre of things and you have to consider that.

“Realistically you can’t train at full intensity for 48 hours after a game so if you look at a midweek fixture you will go from one to another with a training session in the middle, if that. So your injury rate will be three-fold.

The fact it is a World Cup year and there are no gaps in the schedule makes it tough.

“For obvious reasons we couldn’t play (last weekend). We want to play, it is important for Bruce we play – but we do have be mindful of the schedule we are asking these players to go through.”