Six Nations: France v Scotland postponed

This weekend’s Six Nations match between France and Scotland has been postponed.

The third-round fixture was due to take place on Sunday 28 February, but a further positive Covid-19 test amongst the French squad has seen tournament organisers call it off.

A statement read: “The Six Nations Testing Oversight Group (TOG) met today to review the situation in the French Camp.

“They unanimously recommended the postponement of the France v Scotland match. This will be ratified later today by the Six Nations Council.

“We will be working on the rescheduling of this fixture and will communicate the date in due course.”

France announced on Thursday that they had suspended training and placed the squad in isolation following the latest positive case.

There had already been double-figure positive cases in the France playing squad, with the likes of captain Charles Ollivon and scrum-half Antoine Dupont ruled out of the Scotland match. Head coach Fabien Galthie is also among the members of the management who have tested positive, with the outbreak causing disruption to their preparations.

After the cases announced on Monday, France had returned no positive tests for two days and tournament organisers said on Wednesday that the match would go ahead as scheduled. However, another positive case later in the week means the fixture will now have to be rescheduled.

It has been suggested that it could be played on 6-7 March – currently a tournament fallow weekend – but that seems unlikely due to the necessary isolation periods relating to Covid, particularly as the French squad trained together on Wednesday.

Organises are thought to be considering playing the game midweek in the second week of March or in the weekend after the final round, 27-28 March, but these mooted dates are also likely to cause problems in terms of player release because they fall outside World Rugby’s Regulation Nine window so clubs wouldn’t have to release players for international duty.

Scotland have already said they could be without ten players who play for English and French clubs if the match is moved, while relations between the Top 14 clubs and the French federation have been strained in recent months too – players were limited to only three Tests during the autumn window.

France are top of the Six Nations table after wins over Italy and Ireland in their opening games.

Can’t get to the shops? You can download the digital edition of Rugby World straight to your tablet or subscribe to the print edition to get the magazine delivered to your door.

Follow Rugby World on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.