The six-nation tournament match between France and Scotland was already severely distorted after a new positive case of Kovid-19 was discovered on Thursday in Scotland, France.
In a meeting on Thursday morning, the Organizing Committee said in a statement, the Six Nations Trial Monitoring Group (TOG) unanimously recommended the France – Scotland match be postponed.
A day earlier, the organizers put the match on a scheduled date in the absence of a new case of Kovid-19 in the French selection during tests conducted on Monday and Tuesday evenings.
But the latest screening conducted on Wednesday revealed a new contaminated player, who was not identified by the French Rugby Federation (FFR).
This brings the number of positive-positive cases to sixteen in sixteen contests since the beginning of last week: twelve players and four members of management, including coach Fabine Galthy.
FFR therefore decided to suspend training and place “the entire group in isolation according to health protocols” on Thursday, while canceling the press point set at 2:30 pm by video-conference with players and staff members Given.
Initially, a key moment of preparation for the group of 31 players from France was to perform a so-called “high intensity” at the National Rugby Center in Marcosis (Yvelin), which was selected for the group of twenty-three players in the match.
– what date? –
Started like a dream, with success in Italy (50–10) then specifically in Ireland (15–13) – the first in Dublin for ten years – the 2021 campaign was a nightmare since the appearance of this cluster changed.
But France’s XV, the leader in the standings and looking for the first title in the tournament since 2010, avoided at least the worst scenario: losing a match at the Green Carpet.
It remains to be seen when the match may take place. Scotland coach Gregor Townsend said on Thursday he wanted to benefit from his best players so that “we can play this weekend”.
During the week, the Scottish Federation had already expressed strong reservations about a possible postponement of the match on 6 or 7 March, leading many players to join the club over the weekend.
Two days after its success in Ireland, France’s XV registered two first cases on Tuesday 16 February. A positive, a member of the technical staff, in this case a physical trainer, whose identity has not been specified.
The other “doubtful and not proven” worried Fabien Galthey. After a new test conducted during the day, the coach was diagnosed positively.
The cases were then chained in cascades with eight infected players, including eight holders. They are captain and third row Charles Olivan, scrum half Antoine DuPont, full back Bryce Dulin, winger Gabin Villier, center Arthur Vincent, left column Cyril Bailey, right column Mohammed House and hooker Julian Marchand.
– Investigation –
Among the replacements, second line Romain Taofifenua and Baptiste Pesenti as well as Hooter Peto Mouwak are also related to positive tests, as well as co-coaches of two other members of staff, Forward William Sevet and Vijay Karim. Ghazal
How could the health situation deteriorate when the XV of France was put in a “bubble” since the start of its preparations at the end of January in Nice?
Sports Minister Roxana Marciniu on Wednesday asked FFR President Bernard LaPorte to launch an investigation. The minister also asked the Ministry of Health to “understand how the chain of pollution was created within France’s XV”.
The investigation must be submitted within eight days.
“It’s always hard to know the origin. We don’t know anywhere. I’d love to know, to tell you the truth. It’s the one thing that concerns me and I’d really like to know if someone is wrong or not. , Enough. Enough, “said LaPorte in France Info’s microphone on Thursday morning.