It is an explicit threat. That of a withdrawal of the authorization given to the French rugby team to play the matches of the Six Nations Tournament. The French Federation (FFR) was urged, Friday February 26, by the Minister for Sports, Roxana Maracineanu, to explain the cascade of Covid-19 contaminations within the XV of France, which resulted, Thursday, the postponement of the match against Scotland initially scheduled for Sunday.
Otherwise, “If nothing ever happens, if we don’t look for this chain of contaminations and we don’t explain how it could have happened, then the authorization that was given can be withdrawn”, warned the minister on La Chaine L’Equipe.
Roxana Maracineanu had asked, Wednesday evening, Bernard Laporte, the president of the FFR, to launch an investigation “In order to understand how the chain of contamination was formed”.
“We asked for this investigation to the FFR and to Bernard Laporte, who himself came to see us before the Tournament to present us the protocol and tell us that everything was going to be fine. Now that we see that this is not the case, I am waiting for him to come and explain to us what happened ”, warned the minister.
Asked about possible negligence of the Blues, especially during the trip of the XV from France to Italy in early February, the minister explained: “I don’t think it was written in the protocol that players could go out and eat waffles. Or, if they go out to eat waffles, they had to be retested when they re-entered the bubble in contact with others ”.
“We want to know if it has been done because it is the conditions of re-entry and exit into the bubble which make that there is a bubble”, she added.
“The first who will conduct an investigation and want to know the truth is me”, swore Bernard Laporte, interviewed Thursday morning on Franceinfo. While specifying immediately: “But I find it hard to imagine that there was a fault, it is always difficult to know the origin. ”
On Friday, Bernard Laporte also supported coach Fabien Galthié, suspected of having broken health safety rules, just before the trip to Ireland, indicating: “Fabien tells me that he did not break the rules, I believe so”.
