Scots and French hit impasse over date switch

NO new date for Scotland’s Six Nations’ trip to France has been formally agreed — but a favoured proposal of Friday, March 26, has already hit a snag. A new date was set to be decided as early as today following a meeting between the Six Nations Committee and English Premiership clubs to discuss the release of Scotland’s English-based players. A number of options have already been considered and rejected. Tuesday, March 9, was ruled out after SRU representatives insisted on a 14-day gap between the last reported case in France’s Six Nations’ squad and the game. Saturday, March 27, preferred by French broadcaster France 2, was torpedoed by Top 14 clubs in a meeting on Friday, where the March 26 date was first suggested. That would put the game six days after the ‘Super Saturday’ that was intended to be the grand finale of this year’s tournament. It was provisionally welcomed by France manager Raphael Ibanez, who said: ‘March 9 was mentioned but it is not the most reasonable date — and you have to think about player welfare. ‘We, like the Scots, want a fair challenge. A postponement to the end of March would be ideal.’ But Toulon president Bernard Lemaitre has rejected the suggestion, telling fellow club bosses in an email he was unwilling to ‘offer’ the national squad a date outside the Six Nations’ window, which officially ends on Sunday, March 21. His objection came despite a concession from the FFR to allow internationals who test negative to play for their clubs this weekend before preparing for France’s next Six Nations match against England at Twickenham. Another possible date discussed by French club presidents — Thursday, March 25 — would mean both Scotland and France would have play two Six Nations matches in five days.