Six Nations and Coronavirus Tournament: crucial meeting in Paris on Monday following the competition

It is a capital meeting which will be held this Monday in Paris on the future of the Six Nations Tournament 2020. According to the English daily newspaper The Observe r, the meeting will have for day the propagation of the coronavirus on the Old Continent and its consequences on the current competition. The Ireland-Italy match scheduled for February 23 has already been postponed and the meeting will also aim to find a date to play it in the Aviva Stadium. It cannot be before October because by then the Dublin stadium will be occupied by Euro football and September is traditionally a month without an international meeting because it corresponds to the rest period for Irish internationals.

But in addition to this calendar concern, the problem posed by the spread of the coronavirus in France, the second source of contamination in Europe behind Italy, will be the major concern. This Saturday, the French government decreed stage 2 of the fight against the virus banning gatherings of more than 5,000 people in confined spaces and those in the open when they concern people potentially from contaminated areas. In all cases, the Six Nations Committee will defer to the positions of the governments of the respective nations which will have the final say. Irish health services have therefore recommended canceling the match against Italy because the peninsula was the main focus of the Covid-19. Will the Scottish authorities be tempted to proceed in the same way with the planned arrival of France in Edinburgh on March 8? In this case, the 2020 Tournament would clearly be at an impasse. After three days, only France can still achieve the Grand Slam after which it has been running since 2010. However, five selections are still able mathematically to win the Tournament.

While waiting for the health situation to clear up or not, the XV of France trained this Sunday against a selection from the Stade Français during a session open to around 800 spectators in its center in Marcoussis (Essonne). Traditionally, the Blues lent themselves at the end to the traditional autograph session. The latter did not take place to avoid contact.

⚡️ Superb training with the hopes of @SFParisRugby this afternoon! Thank you to the fans who came in large numbers to support the Blues 🙏 #NeFaisonsXV #XVdeFrance pic.twitter.com/lIumIQnRUR