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French rugby season to be abandoned
By Online Editors
The French Top 14 rugby union season is to be abandoned amid the COVID-19 crisis after the league's organisers (LNR) and the club presidents reached an agreement to call off the campaign, the LNR said on Thursday.
French prime minister Edouard Philippe on Tuesday said that the 2019-20 season of sport would not be able to resume, although the government's measures to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus left room for games to be played without spectators.
"After consultation with the presidents of Top 14 and PRO D2 (second division) clubs, the Board will propose to the LNR Management Committee not to follow up on having playoffs at the end of August to close the 2019-2020 season, to pronounce the end of this 2019-2020 season, and to focus on the organisation of the launch of the 2020-2021 editions of the two championships starting in September 2020," the LNR said in a statement.
The LNR's management committee is expected to meet some time in the next couple of weeks to validate its board's decision.
The LNR has yet to decide whether any club will be named champions.
- AAP
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Latest Comments
I think the majority of their yellow cards were for cynical infringements instead of repeated infringements.
Go to commentsSpeed of game and stoppages in play remain a problem SK. Set piece oriented teams generally want a lower ball in play time, and they have various strategies to try and get it - legal and illegal!
They want to maximize their power in short bursts, then recover for the next effort. Teams like Bristol are the opposite. They want high ball in play to keep the oppo moving, they want quicker resolution at set pieces, and if anyone is to kick the ball out, they want it to be the other team.
The way rugby is there will always be a place for set piece based teams, but progression in the game is associated far more with the Black Ferns/Bristol style.
The scrum is a crucible. We have still not solved the problem of scrums ending in FKs and penalties, sometimes with yellow cards attached. A penalty ought not to be the aim of a scrum, a dominant SP should lead to greater attacking opportunity as long as the offence is not dangerous but technical in nature.
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