Six Nations set to kick-off as scheduled next month
SIX Nations organisers have confirmed the 2021 Championship will take place in February and March as planned in response to suggestions it could be moved to the summer.
The tournament opens when Italy host France on February 6 but, with the Lions’ tour to South Africa now in doubt because of the escalating coronavirus pandemic, it had been speculated that the Six Nations could be delayed by four months to take advantage of the potential gap in the window.
With large swathes of the population expected to be vaccinated by the summer, it has been argued there would be scope for crowds to attend, helping financially stricken unions.
But the tournament is set to go ahead in its customary window, unless disruption is caused by Covid-19.
“The Six Nations is planning for the tournament to go ahead as scheduled, but we are monitoring the situation with the unions and their respective governments and health authorities,” a spokesperson said.
For the Six Nations to be moved to the summer, the Lions’ tour would have to be cancelled as soon as possible, but managing director Ben Calveley on Saturday set a deadline of February for a conclusion to the crunch talks over its viability.
Underlining the difficulty facing the Lions on the issue of whether to proceed is yesterday’s admission by Health Secretary Matt Hancock that he is “very worried” about the South African variant of Covid-19.
Meanwhile, European rugby chiefs have moved to quell purported threats of a French boycott as they prepare to announce revised Covid-19 protocols following a meeting of its Medical Advisory Group.
Despite Bayonne announcing they were quitting the Challenge Cup with two rounds to go, and with rumours that Toulon and others were also prepared to issue a blanket boycott circulating, the EPCR says the show will go on with Rounds Three and Four of the pool stages taking place this month.
“It can be confirmed that no club participating in the Heineken Champions Cup or Challenge Cup has officially informed EPCR of any intention not to fulfil their remaining fixtures in the 2020/’21 season,” organisers said in a statement following a video conference.