The health situation of the XV of France is clarified. The French Rugby Federation (FFR) announced this Wednesday morning that all the PCR tests carried out the night before on the players and staff of the Blues came back negative. A result similar to the day before, where no new Covid-19 contamination had been detected among the French group gathered in Marcoussis.
“No new case has been identified for 48 hours”, welcomes the FFR in its press release. In fact, these results show that the wave that hit the XV of France, of which 15 players and staff members contracted the coronavirus, seems to be dying out. A determining factor in the perspective of maintaining the third match of the French in this Six Nations Tournament Sunday (4 p.m.) against Scotland.
A possible postponement of the meeting will be decided this Wednesday evening at a meeting of the Six Nations Test Monitoring Group. According to several sources, this new absence of cases within the tricolor group should allow the match to be held on the agreed date.
The Galthié controversy to manage
The Blues could therefore appear at the Stade de France with a team of ten less players, including its captain Charles Ollivon and his scrum half Antoine Dupont, elected best player of the last Six Nations Tournament. For now, they have still not resumed collective training, after two sessions Monday and Tuesday, without ball and without contact, based on the physical. If the FFR mentioned the date of Wednesday for a return to normal, this point is not mentioned in its morning press release.
In parallel, the XV of France will also have to manage the controversy related to his coach, Fabien Galthié. Among the first two positive cases, he is suspected of having broken the health bubble at the beginning of the week before the trip to Ireland, according to information from L’Équipe. All this gives a preparation which the Blues, launched towards a potential first Grand Slam since 2010, would have gone well.
Article original de: www.leparisien.fr
