Leinster's Contepomi out of Cup pool stages

New Leinster signing Felipe Contepomi will not take part in the pool stages of the Heineken European Cup this season.

This is a disaster for Leinster, who brought the Argentinian World Cup star in to replace the injury-prone Nathan Spooner.

Leinster thought they had received clearance from the English RFU on the transfer of Contepomi from Bristol to Leinster. In fact, they had not.

The decision by ERC Limited could open the way for in-form Matt Leek to make an impact.