A cover assembly for covering an elongate substrate includes a holdout device and a resilient, elastically radially expanded sleeve member. The holdout device includes a core having an axially extending slit defined therein and defining a core passage to receive the substrate, and a designated target region. The sleeve member defines an axially extending sleeve passage. The sleeve member is mounted on the core such that the core is disposed in the sleeve passage and the sleeve member exerts a radially compressive recovery force on the core. When the substrate is disposed in the core passage and a radially directed release force is applied to the target region, the core will reduce in circumference and collapse around the substrate under the recovery force of the sleeve member to a collapsed position.