Scotland insist match will go on despite French Covid outbreak
Jockey weighs up move after amateurs banned from Festival Trainer’s son is due to ride two favourites for his father
Scottish Rugby Union chief executive Mark Dodson yesterday insisted that Sunday’s game between France and Scotland would go ahead in Paris as scheduled.
The French squad and coaching group have returned 13 positive Covid tests, and reports from France yesterday had suggested that if there were any more positive tests then the Scottish government might not allow the Scotland team to travel, a suggestion Dodson rejected.
“We haven’t had any conversations with the Scottish government about not travelling,” he said. “We’ve been left with the situation put in place by the French government and the French medical authorities, along with the Six Nations. The protocols are deeper and intensive as of now, and we’ll abide by those protocols.
“We are delighted that the game’s going ahead. It’s important that we are allowed to prepare properly for it. Our preparations have been very good. All the boys want to play and the French want to play too. We made our case quite clear to the Six Nations about why we wanted the game to be played this Sunday. We look forward to a great contest.”
Dodson also said he would resist pressure to let Dominic Mckay, who is serving his notice at the SRU before becoming chief executive at Celtic, to leave early despite yesterday’s resignation of Celtic manager Neil Lennon.
“What’s happening at Celtic is out of my control, although I clearly know that Dom will have a very full in-tray when he gets there,” said Dodson. “He has a notice period here and we need stability in our business, too. I expect him to be with us until we can replace him and make sure the business is in good enough shape. That’s the only time we’ll consider allowing Dom to move and that depends on how quickly we can replace him.”
Patrick Mullins, who is due to ride two favourites – Kilcruit in the bumper race and Billaway in the Hunter Chase – is looking into the possibility of turning professional ahead of the Cheltenham Festival after it was confirmed yesterday that amateurs would not be allowed to ride at the meeting.
The decision to change race conditions, means that for the first time in its 161-year history, runners in the National Hunt Chase, the Festival’s oldest event, will be ridden by professional jockeys.
The other races traditionally confined to the unpaid ranks, the Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Chase and the Hunter Chase, will also now be ridden by professionals only. As a result, the meeting will lose some of it charm. “It’s not unexpected that amateurs cannot ride but it is nevertheless disappointing,” said Mullins, 31, the 12-times champion amateur of Ireland. “But I have such an outstanding book of rides, I have to consider turning pro.”
In Ireland, jockeys can return to the amateur ranks after a certain amount of time out and provided they have not ridden more than 25 winners as a professional, which could, possibly, open a way back for Mullins. If times are strange enough to consider a date change for the Grand National, then there is no harm in exploring the small print in the rules.
The jockey, who is assistant trainer to his father, Willie, could expect to have a dozen top-class rides for the stable, including Sharjah in the Champion Hurdle and Melon in the Ryanair Chase.
Considered outside the Government’s definition of elite sportsmen, amateurs are not expected be able to return until March 29 when grassroots sport opens up again – too late for Cheltenham but in time for the Grand National meeting at Aintree from April 8-10.
Derek O’connor, the most successful jockey in Irish point-topoint history, who has four Festival winners under his belt, said: “I would have hoped to have picked up rides in all the amateur races,
and, obviously, it’s disappointing – but it’s just unfortunate. I suppose the most important thing is the Festival going ahead.”
Fellow amateur Sam Waleycohen admitted the writing had been on the wall since the beginning of the latest lockdown.
“It’s had time to sink in,” he said. “There’s not really a lot to say about it. People are losing their livelihoods with the closing of point-to-points, which puts it in context. I just hope the British Horseracing Authority is
proactive in getting amateur races going again from March 29.”
It is not just leading amateurs who had been looking forward to the meeting. Albi Tufnell, pupil assistant to Fergal O’brien, has spent all season anticipating his first Festival ride. “It’s frustrating,” he said, “the Foxhunters is the amateur’s Gold Cup and the horse qualified at Doncaster today. There have been a lot of frustrations this year but it seems there is, at least, light at the end of the tunnel.”
PBack when she was simply known as Kate Middleton, she was an avid England supporter
icture the scene in Anmer Hall, the country home of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge as Wales face England in the Six Nations on Saturday. As patron of the Welsh Rugby Union, there is little guessing whom the Duke will be shouting for, but what about the Duchess?
Family fun: the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge at the opening ceremony of the 2015 Rugby World Cup
Back when she was simply known as Kate Middleton, she was an avid England supporter, regularly watching games with father, Mike, and sister, Pippa, so it seems unlikely that she will allow her husband’s royal duties to interfere with the deadly serious business of Six Nations tribal loyalty.
All of which begs the question – with the Rugby Football Union now on the lookout for a new royal figurehead, following the decision of its former patron, the Duke of Sussex, to end his time as a working member of “The Firm”, who would be better placed for the role than the Duchess?
There certainly seems to be a dearth of contenders, given the Duke is already ruled out. In name, the patronage of the RFU has passed to the Queen, but at 94 years of age, she probably will not be too keen for trips to Twickenham when the crowds are allowed back – even if rugby rarely clashes with the racing action on her beloved Flat. And the Princess Royal is very much invested in her role as patron of the Scottish Rugby Union, as witnessed by her celebration when Scotland beat England.
The Duchess of Cambridge, however, absolutely fits the bill. The role of patron of the RFU is largely symbolic, but the Duke of Sussex’s stardust has helped highlight English rugby to those who may just have a passing interest. Remember his cameo with Jonny Wilkinson as a gardener in the 2015 World Cup opening ceremony?
That evening, as England played Fiji in those halcyon days before the hosts’ World Cup campaign was spectacularly derailed, there was one very animated fan sitting in Rugby HQ above Stuart Lancaster’s coaching box – the Duchess of Cambridge.
If Royal patronages require glowing references like commoners need for jobs, the RFU would only have to look to SW19, where the Duchess has been a big hit since taking over as patron of the All England Club from the Queen in 2016. The Duchess has not just confined herself to the glamorous surrounds of the Royal box but also seemed just as happy to cheer on Harriet Dart to her first Wimbledon win on Court 14 in 2019.
The Duke of Sussex, a huge rugby fan, brought his natural passion to his work with the All Schools Programme, an initiative to bring rugby to state schools, which was seen as an important step to shining a light on an area where rugby desperately needs to grow.
The Duchess could do similar by championing the RFU’S Inner Warrior campaign, which is targeted at women who have never played before. And when social distancing – let us hope – becomes redundant, one would get the impression that she would be a more-than-willing participant in a session, given how she gleefully took up her hockey stick in a workout with the British squad before the London 2012 Olympics – not to mention her determination to beat her husband in various sailing races or her efforts with a cricket bat on their tour to Pakistan in 2019.
As the Cambridges navigated the pandemic with grace, they are more popular than ever and who would not love to see them play their part in the great rugby rivalry between England and Wales? There would even be the obligatory sub-plot of which parent Prince George, Prince Louis and Princess Charlotte would side with.
Also, with the RFU desperately needing a boost because of its financial woes, it could do with the “Kate effect” which has seen many fashion designers’ sales soar.
Just imagine if this quintessential English rose were to wear the Red Rose – what impact that could have on sales from the Twickenham shop?