Six Nations: Bernard Laporte ensures that the tournament “will be played”

Do not panic. This is in essence the reassuring message that the President of the French Rugby Federation (FFR) Bernard Laporte wanted to convey, while the Six Nations Tournament seems threatened by the increasing spread of the British variant of Covid-19 across the country. Handle. On Saturday, the Sports Ministry recommended that French clubs postpone their European matches against the British for the next weekends. But no question of considering – for the moment – a postponement of the Tournament in which the XV of France will take part.

A Tournament in the form of Final 8?

“It’s a puzzle, but I think we should not be alarmed for the Six Nations Tournament, assured RMC the boss of the FFR this Sunday. The Tournament will be played, with a health protocol dictated by the government, and linked to this mutant virus. Everything went well in the fall, it will be the same for the Tournament to come, I am not more worried than that. […] We have a meeting at the beginning of the week with the Ministry of Sports, a meeting also with the Six Nations Council. But we already talk to each other every day, and today, there is no question of considering anything, except that we are going to play the Tournament. “

The Tournament, which should take place in less than a month (February 6 to March 20), may however have to take on the appearance of Final 8 of the Champions League, a football competition that was played in a closed bubble the last summer in Lisbon. “If that was the condition sine qua non to play, we would, that’s obvious. And the ideal would be to do it in France… with the final in Gaillac (Editor’s note: where he started his playing career in the Tarn and where he kept his ties)! (Laughs). A specific meeting on the competition will be held at the initiative of the Ministry of Sports at the beginning of the week.