THE GALTHIE PARTIES
Ill-judged decision to press ahead with clash casts both associations in bad light
RUGBY’S determination to defy common sense and medical science in order to get the Six Nations round three clash between France and Scotland in Paris played as initially scheduled on Sunday backfired in humiliating style yesterday lunchtime, when the tournament organisers were finally forced to postpone the match, less than 24 hours after they had declared it was full steam ahead.
News yesterday morning that an 11th French player had tested positive for Covid was the hammer-blow which could not be absorbed by further assurances that self-isolation and daily testing regimes were curbing the spread of the virus through the squad. Four members of the French management team have also tested positive and reports in France have suggested that head coach Fabien Galthie could be “Patient Zero”, having apparently breached the group’s “bubble” on a number of occasions during the week leading up to Les Bleus victory over Ireland two Sundays ago.
After no new Covid cases were reported on Tuesday and Wednesday morning, the Six Nations Testing Oversight Group had felt confident enough about the outbreak being under control to give the game the thumbs up on Wednesday afternoon, but that proved premature, and by yesterday lunchtime they had finally bowed to the inevitable.
Now focus turns to when the game can eventually be played. This is going to be a challenge because the professional and international fixture schedule is chock-a-block through to early August, and World Rugby’s Regulation Nine sets out very clear parameters about the specific windows when clubs are required to release their players to international duty.
Scottish Rugby issued a statement pre-postponement in which it was made clear that they would regard the game being called off and re-arranged on a date when their English and French based players might be held back by their clubs as an unfair outcome from a problem they have had no part in creating. “Any postponement will have an impact on the player release agreement in place with clubs, which could see more than 10 Scotland players unavailable for selection if the game is rearranged,” the statement said.
That message was reinforced by head coach Gregor Townsend soon after the postponement was confirmed.
“While we fully accept the decision of the Testing Oversight Group to recommend postponing our match against France on medical grounds, it is disappointing not to be able to play this fixture on Sunday,” he said. “We have had a good week with our players who were focussed and ready to represent their country in Paris and continue our progress in this year’s Guinness Six Nations.
“Throughout this tournament, and the previous Autumn Nations Cup, we have worked hard to maintain strict Covid protocols which have enabled us to select our strongest possible teams for these important international fixtures.
“We will wait to see what options are available to play this match against France, but it remains our position that we want to have all our eligible players available to us for that fixture, so we can compete to the level we would have done this weekend.”
It is now all but certain that the game won’t be rescheduled for next weekend. Not least because the French squad trained together – and were therefore close contacts – on Wednesday, before the positive Covid test result was returned on Thursday morning, which should trigger a 10-day isolation period for those players who took part in the session.
Reports from France have indicated that the match being played in July is an option, however that would clash with the Lions tour, if it goes ahead, and Scotland hope to have a decent representation on that trip for the first time this century.
Scotland are understood to be looking for the game to be played sooner rather than later, and the tournament organisers are reportedly considering a midweek game in the week commencing 8th March, but that doesn’t seem credible given that it would require the teams to play each other followed by their Six Nations round four matches inside the space of just a few days.
The weekend of 27th March is also apparently on the table, but that presents the same problem as playing next weekend in that it clashes with full English Premiership and French Top14 fixture schedules and it is not an international window.
Regulation Nine has been a thorny issue for several years, with clubs determined to enforce their rights in order to derive as much benefit on their salary outlay as possible. While it might be hoped that the exceptional circumstances of this situation can invoke some flexibility, that is far from guaranteed.
The RFU in England and FFR in France pay clubs in their jurisdiction handsomely so that their national team can get access to players outside of international windows, so the SRU might well be expected to do the same.