French probe finds Galthie not guilty

But Les Bleus not yet in clear over outbreak

ThE French rugby Federation has cleared Fabien Galthie of any wrongdoing in the outbreak of coronavirus which has ripped through the France squad and plunged their Six Nations campaign into chaos.

An internal investigation has claimed that head coach Galthie did not break their Covid bubble, and nor was he ‘Patient Zero’.

This is not necessarily the end of the matter, however, with the French Government now poised to hold talks today to establish whether further action is required.

Galthie may not be out of the woods just yet, with France’s Sports Minister roxana Maracineanu expected to issue a public statement today after the Federation presented their findings to her.

Maracineanu has vowed to take a tough stance and has previously insisted she would withdraw the French team from this year’s Six Nations if answers were not forthcoming or proved to be unsatisfactory.

There have been 16 positive cases in the French camp over the past fortnight, which ultimately led to the postponement of last Sunday’s clash with Scotland at the Stade de France.

Galthie was the first to test positive for the virus back on February 16, leading to concerns that he had broken the bubble to go and watch his son play rugby and that he was ‘Patient Zero’.

That theory has been refuted, however, with FFr president Bernard laporte insisting earlier this week that Galthie still retained the support of the Federation.

But Maracineanu could now demand that laporte issue sanctions against anyone found to have breached protocols that the government had demanded before it agreed to allow matches involving France to go ahead as scheduled.

‘I fight every day so that high-level and professional competitions take place,’ she said earlier this week. ‘We cannot afford to have flaws in the protocols we propose because it affects our credibility, as well as the authorisations and exceptions we can obtain for professional sport.’

The FFr’s report, which was handed in to the sports ministry yesterday morning, effectively exonerated Galthie and points the finger of blame at ‘bad luck’.

There will be plenty of people who are yet to be convinced, however, given that the French Federation have thus far been left to mark their own homework.

The report claimed that Galthie ‘did not breach the health bubble’ when he left camp to watch his son play rugby and ‘is not Patient Zero’.

It instead followed earlier statements out of FFr headquarters that ‘Patient Zero’ was a player on the French Sevens team who had trained with the Six Nations squad in the days leading up to Les Bleus’ win over Ireland in Dublin on February 14.

The unnamed player returned a negative PCr test on arrival at the training camp but, according to one of the report’s authors, roger Salamon, who is head of the FFr’s medical committee, was in an ‘incubation period’ with the virus.

‘In my report, I mention it right at the start, it is perfectly clear that what he (Galthie) has done and whatever one might think, he had the right to do what he did, and there was no particular risk,’ said Salamon.

‘Besides, he is not Patient Zero, that is evident virologically from the distance at which he went to see his son and at the distance at which there were early cases.

‘I’m not saying that to defend him — he doesn’t need to be defended — I’m saying this because it’s the truth.

‘If we want to talk about an error, it is a communication error. People did not quite understand what a bubble was. Perhaps we should have called it differently.

‘A sanitary bubble is not an enclosed place from which no one enters and no one leaves. The sanitary bubble is an area protected by the protocol.

‘No one enters it unless it has a guarantee of negativity. But people can get out if they obey the basic rules of protection. This is exactly the case with Fabien Galthie.’

Another of the report’s authors, infectious disease specialist Eric Caumes, questioned the need for an investigation.

‘We do not see what could happen (after this investigation),’ he said. ‘I even wonder why this report was commissioned.

‘There was no investigation to find out how Emmanuel Macron caught Covid.

‘This is one of the infallible things, very difficult to control. It will serve as a lesson.

‘If you want a completely sealed bubble, you have to impose a quarantine of 14 days before entering it and once you are there, you do not leave it. But this is only possible for short-term competitions.’

An official date for the rearranged match between France and Scotland has yet to be announced, but Friday, March 26, is now looking increasingly likely.