©Steve Haag
The French government has been seeking reassurances from England and Ireland over Covid-19 ahead of the team’s visit to the countries during the Six Nations.
France’s opening fixture against Italy in Rome on 6th February had already got the approval from the sports ministry but there have been concerns over their second and fourth round clashes against Ireland and England that has been scheduled to be played at Aviva Stadium and Twickenham Stadium respectively due to the new variant of coronavirus.
The French sports ministry already had advised the clubs to cease any cross-border competitions leading to the suspension of next two rounds in the European Challenge Cup and Heineken Champions Cup competitions and now the Six Nations organisers are in discussion with the government in Paris to address the concerns.
“We keep the first match,” Maracineanu told a press conference.
“On the other hand, against Ireland and England we absolutely need to have the necessary guarantees from these countries.
“There has to be proof that the other nations’ virus framework respects the same requirements in terms of precaution. We expect the same thing from the other teams.”
Earlier, the French sports ministry recommended that the Top14 system of Covid-19 testing should be adopted where the players and staff will be tested 72 hours before the game as against the existing system where the tests are conducted at the start of the week.
