French Rugby: Six Nations 'will take place'
France Rugby Federation president Bernard Laporte has insisted this season’s Guinness Six Nations Championship “will take place”. The World Rugby vice-chairman also said there will be an expanded coronavirus testing programme for the tournament, while each country will have “a Covid manager”.
France’s government is demanding reassurances on safety from England and Ireland before allowing its national side to visit those countries during the Six Nations. Only the tournament’s opening fixture against Italy in Rome on February 6 has been approved by Sports Minister Roxana Maracineanu.
The French authorities have concerns over the soaring number of coronavirus cases in the UK and Ireland and have already barred their clubs from taking part in European competition this month.
The Six Nations held talks with Parisian officials earlier this week, and discussions will be ongoing as organisers attempt to convince the government in France that sufficient coronavirus protocols are in place.
It is highly unlikely the tournament would go ahead without France, who play Ireland in Dublin on February 14 and England at Twickenham on March 13. But Laporte has moved to ease fears, stating in an interview with the franceinfo website: “I understand some are sceptical, but it will take place.
“Firstly, because we had during the autumn (Nations Cup) put in place a protocol which worked very, very well. The proof is that as soon as a team, in this case Fiji, were detected with Covid cases, they were out of the competition. It worked well.
“There is going to be a Six Nations protocol. Once again, all of this makes us very optimistic. We will go further, there will be even more tests. We adapt to the conditions, but it’s the same principle – a real health bubble. A lot of organisation, a lot of foresight, with a Covid manager in each nation. I repeat, it worked well in the autumn, it will work well during this Six Nations time.”
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So you have to be an international coach to have an opinion on rugby?
Go to commentsThere is a lot of this being said at the moment but Marcus Smith did miss a couple of drop goals of his own in the first half. Everything is in hindsight and you’d also need to be a brave coach to not make use of your bench replacements in a test.
NZ tried to resist making replacements in the second test against the Boks this year, and fatigued players just ended up making uncharacteristic errors at the end of the match.
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