FRANCE are still waiting to play their Six Nations fixture against Scotland at home. Les Bleus saw the match postponed after a coronavirus outbreak within their squad. And it could be a crucial match as Les Bleus face Wales this weekend, looking to keep their title hopes alive. When will France vs Scotland be played […]
FRANCE are still waiting to play their Six Nations fixture against Scotland at home.
Les Bleus saw the match postponed after a coronavirus outbreak within their squad.
And it could be a crucial match as Les Bleus face Wales this weekend, looking to keep their title hopes alive.
France vs Scotland has been pencilled in for Friday, March 26, Sky Sports reports.
French Top 14 clubs are said to have already signed off on the date, with that window reportedly the only one under consideration.
As soon as England’s Premiership clubs and Scotland’s Edinburgh and Glasgow give the go-ahead, the fixture should be confirmed.
And Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend has added his name to calls for the match to be played on that date.
He said: “We were all aware of the rules going into the tournament and knew there wasn’t going to be a 28-0 win or even a draw.
“It was always going to be a postponement.
“You could follow all the rules and protocols and still end up with the virus in your camp.
“Our players are coming in from other teams every second week so I don’t think you could set something up (to issue forfeits) because it could be down to bad luck as well as any other circumstance.
“We want the game played and so do France. Let’s hope it gets played in the next three weeks.”
However, Exeter Chiefs director of rugby Rob Baxter says the Premiership have yet to give him any indication as to whether its players will be released or not.
He commented: “I don’t know if talks are still ongoing, whether there has been a ‘this is what needs to happen’. I can’t quite fill you in.
“I imagine that Premiership Rugby will have made its stance on it to the Six Nations and it’s probably now for the Six Nations to either accept or decline it.
“That is what I imagine is what is happening. That is probably why we are still waiting to see what happens.
“Now I don’t know whether some of those decisions might be made depending on the rounds of games this week, whether that affects something or not.
“It could well be that there is still circumstances that will come out of this weekend that will change. I don’t know.
“I don’t want to make a comment on something I genuinely don’t know anything about.”
France vs Scotland was cancelled after the entire French squad was ordered to isolate.
The match had been scheduled to go ahead despite Les Bleus reporting ten positive tests.
However a further positive test led to the match being called off on Thursday, February 25.
A Six Nations statement 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.”
In a statement on Twitter, France rugby said: “Following the RT-PCR tests carried out on Wednesday, February 24, and the appearance of a positive test within the playing squad, the FFR medical committee met this morning and decided to suspend training today.
“The entire group is in isolation in accordance with the health protocol.”
In the Autumn Nations Cup, France, Italy and Scotland were awarded 28-0 wins over Fiji after a Covid outbreak within the Pacific Islanders’ squad – therefore the precedent is there.
However, it is only likely that this would even be considered if France were found to have been responsible for the virus entering the squad through, for example, a breach of bubble regulations.
Prior to the tournament, the head of the Six Nations Ben Morel said the priority would be to reschedule if any matches were postponed.
He commented: “The primary focus would be to reschedule.
“The reason why we went for immediate results during the Nations Cup was that it had to progress because there was a finals weekend.
“We would obviously want to protect the sporting integrity of the Six Nations as much as possible.
“We are confident in our ability to stage the matches at the right time, it’s more what logistical gymnastics we need to adapt to.”
