France clash with Scotland now cancelled – reports

The Six Nations clash between France and Scotland this weekend has now been cancelled, according to reports in France.

After the squad had reported no new cases on Wednesday, following a Covid-19 outbreak that had seen ten players test positive as well as head coach Fabien Galthie, France received bad news on Thursday of one more case.

In a statement, the French Rugby Federation said: “Following the RT-PCR tests carried out this Wednesday, February 24 in the evening, and the appearance of a positive case within the squad of players, the FFR medical committee met this morning and decided to suspend training this day.

“The entire group is in isolation in accordance with health protocol. The FFR is in close contact with the Six Nations committee.”

Good news on Wednesday had seen Sunday’s match given the go-ahead, but Midi Olympique and Rugbyrama are now reporting that France versus Scotland has been cancelled.

Re-arranging the fixture was something Scotland had put pressure on France to ensure never became a possibility, due to the issues that would arise from having players released by clubs out of World Rugby’s Test window for the Six Nations.

Scottish Rugby statement ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/fNpk7wt93E

— Scottish Rugby (@Scotlandteam) February 22, 2021

Captain Stuart Hogg, lock Jonny Gray and fly-half Finn Russell are all players among a total of ten who would be uneligible to play in the re-arranged fixture, unlikely to be shoe-horned into a congested club-international calendar up to June.

A repeat of the postponed match being conveyed in the autumn as was the case with two rounds of the 2020 Six Nations could be possible.

Scotland will face playing no fixture until March 14, when they are scheduled to play Ireland at Murrayfield prior to concluding the Six Nations against Italy a week later.

Scottish Rugby have announced no fixtures for the summer Test window, which normally sees teams from the northern hemisphere tour a southern hemisphere nation before the reverse happens in the autumn.

The governing body announced in December they would hold November Tests against world champions South Africa, Australia and one more nation that will be confirmed in due course.

World Rugby have been keen to expand their Test windows and considered an overhaul to its calendar with a new competition designed to create competition between both hemispheres initially planned for 2024.

Talk of a ‘global calendar’ has grown quiet in recent months, with World Rugby believed to now look optimise the timeframe of its windows that are so “key to increasing interest and value”.