THE Six Nations tournament organisers have bowed to the inevitable by postponing Sunday’s clash between France and Scotland in Paris, after an 11th player in the home squad tested positive to Covid overnight.
It is not clear at this stage when the game will be played. Next weekend has been mooted as a possibility, however that will create a number of issues related to player release from clubs as it is not within World Rugby’s designated windows for international competition.
The hectic nature of the current professional rugby season means there are no obvious dates between now and August when a game can be fitted in without one team or the other, and more often than not both, facing significant challenges in terms of accessing players.
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A statement from the Six Nations said:
The Six Nations Testing Oversight Group (TOG) met today to review the situation in the French Camp.
They unanimously recommended the postponement of the France v Scotland match. This will be ratified later today by the Six Nations Council.
We will be working on the rescheduling of this fixture and will communicate the date in due course.
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What about the impact of a re-scheduled game on Glasgow and Edinburgh’s admittedly slim chances of getting into the European Champions Cup next year? That might be worse than losing the French game TV revenue?
This is just a farce.
I have every confidence Scotland will be disadvantaged in some way by this decision. Its getting to the point that I might actually start believing there is some conspiracy against Scotland since the last world cup…
#justsayin
A few days ago i said this in part of a longer statement, i would like to thank JW for originally quoting me on this.
“It is their fault they have covid, they must not have been following protocols”
Several people have since said that it was a nonsense statement by myself and that it was ridiculous i was blaming the French for catching the coronavirus as well as saying i do not understand how the virus works.
Reports are now appearing of some extremely stupid protocol breaches by the head coach Fabien Galthie and one other player for what has only so far being described as an attending some sort of party/awards thing, this was all done without wearing a mask to make matters worse.
I ask in particular to you JW, how do you respond this, do you still believe that covid just magically appeared inside them?
The fact of the matter is this. If these reports end up being proven and true, then they have breached protocol, caught the coronavirus from this, endangered their team-mates and staff first and foremost, secondly they have massively disrupted Scotlands six-nations campaign.
This should be a 28-0 BP win to Scotland following a thorough investigation, this was their fault, they should be punished for being that stupid, it is the fair thing to do and the right thing to do.
I am as annoyed as everyone else here that we will now miss what could have been an excellent game of rugby.
I am quite happy for the points to be awarded to Scotland if there have been breaches in protocol which have been properly investigated. I will wait for that to happen and not rely on a few spurious newspaper reports in order to play the blame game like you and a few others.
I have never suggested that Covid “magically appeared inside them” in exactly the same way I don’t believe that Covid has magically killed hundreds of thousands of people. Your comment is an insult to all those who have lost family and friends in the pandemic.
We are suffering a global pandemic and to use that to score cheap points at the expense of rugby opponents is in my view absolutely pathetic.
There’s chat about the game being rescheduled to 3rd July, which clashes with a Lions match. I for one think that is wholly is unacceptable and shouldn’t happen. Gatland shouldn’t be given another excuse to not pick Scots!
If the game is to be played next week and we cant have non Scottish based players in the squad, we should boycott the rest of the tournament. Always seems to be one rule for Scotland and another for the T1 nations
Great idea! We can also expect to be cut out of the TV revenue as well.
We may lose tv money but at least keep our principled
That would show nothing but stupidity. We are in the middle of a worldwide pandemic. Unfortunately there will be winners and losers what ever is decided but it isn’t life and death. We have seen enough of the latter and people should be grown up enough not to throw their toys out of the pram over a rugby tournament.
Unfortunately, the agreement in place means the game must be rescheduled. I’m not sure how much say we’ll have, I believe that’ll be up to the 6n committee.
True, the issues of player release point to problems for Scotland, but given the Autumn series experience, might France face even worse problems? Perhaps next week might be good for us. : )
Either way, the safest option is the correct option whenever it gets played.
Unfortunate but inevitable and, more importantly, the safe thing to do. Let’s hope that we don’t get rogered by World Rugby and made to play when we can’t have any non Scotland. based players, though
Am I missing something here? If the game does go ahead next week, why is it assumed that the French clubs will release their international players for the game? I’ve always been under the impression that the French clubs were fairly hard nosed and intransigent when dealing with the FFR.
If the 6N suggest next weekend or try and fit it in on a midweek schedule before the end of the 6N completion that leaves Scotland with turnaround problems for players, we haven’t got the strength in depth like the FFR, it will be inequitable, and that apart there is still every chance of infection in Paris or elsewhere in France with the third wave of infections rampant according to local sources. Quarantine extended from 7 to 10 days and a 6-6pm curfew. The French have hardly vaccinated any meaningful numbers, its their mess let them take the consequences.
Good grief. Do you realise how many people have died of Covid over here? Have our practices been that good that you can now sling blame at the French for being slow in vaccinating people?