FRANCE’s sports minister has threatened to deny the national team permission to fulfil their Six Nations fixtures unless they carry out a proper investigation of the Covid-19 outbreak within their camp.
Four French officials, among them head coach Fabien Galthie, and a host of players including star scrum-half Antoine Dupont all tested positive for the virus last week, leading to the postponement of today’s Championship match against Scotland. So far the French rugby federation (FFR) has failed to identify the source of the outbreak or to suggest any culpability for it, but sports minister Roxana Maracineanu is not satisfied that the governing body has done all it could.
“If nothing happens, if we don't look into this chain of contaminations and they don't explain to us how it could happen, then the authorisation that has been given [to play in the Six Nations] can be withdrawn,” Maracineanu told L’Equipe TV. She also referred to reports that some members of the French squad had left their bubble to go out to a cafe during their stay in Rome for the game against Italy on the opening weekend of the Championship.
“I don't think it was written in the protocol that the players could go out to eat waffles," she continued. "If they went out to eat waffles, they had to be re-tested when they re-entered the bubble. We want to know if this has been done because it is the conditions of re-entering and exiting the bubble that make it a bubble, by definition.”
A new date has yet to be agreed for the France-Scotland match, and Scotland coach Gregor Townsend has made it clear he wants it to be when all his players are available to him rather than being retained by their clubs. Friday 26 March is one possibility being considered by the FFR.
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