The tone is rising between the Minister for Sports and the French Rugby Federation.
Roxana Maracineanu indeed put pressure on the FFR on Friday, urged to explain the cascade of Covid-19 contaminations within the XV of France (16 cases in all!), Which Thursday resulted in the cancellation of the match against the Scotland originally scheduled for Sunday.
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"If nothing ever happens, if we don't look for this chain of contaminations and explain to us how it could have happened, then the authorization that was given (to play the Six Nations Tournament) can be withdrawn, the minister warned on
La Chaine L'Equipe
.
We asked for this investigation (Thursday) 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. "
Before adding, very annoyed: “I don't think it was marked in the protocol that the players could go out to 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 means that there is a bubble. "
“I don't know if he (Galthié) came out or not. Did he break the rules? On what I'm told, no. The report will tell. I asked him the question, he said no to me and I trust him ”
Bernard Laporte
On Friday, Bernard Laporte supported coach Fabien Galthié, suspected of having broken health safety rules, just before the trip to Ireland.
Guest of
RMC
, the president of the FFR declared: “I don't know if he (Galthié) left or not.
Did he break the rules?
On what I'm told, no.
The report will tell.
I asked him the question, he says no to me and I trust him.
(…) Fabien told me that he had respected the protocol.
The final report will tell me who failed and who did not. "
"Understand how the chain of contamination was formed"
On Wednesday, Roxana Maracineanu had asked Bernard Laporte on Wednesday to launch an investigation "in order to understand how the chain of contaminations was formed".
Response from the former coach of the XV of France: “For me there is no fault.
Will there be a sanction in the event of a fault?
If the report says that people have failed, it will take sanctions, that's obvious.
I ask for a report to find out everything.
Fabien tells me that he did not break the rules, I believe so.
I am a pragmatic person.
If there are mistakes, we will assume.
Is Galthié threatened as it is?
Of course not !"
"I want to know exactly what happened"
Guest of the SMS, Bernard Laporte spoke about the cases of Covid-19 detected within the XV of France and the rumors around Fabien Galthié. # RMCLivepic.twitter .com / 1AZXvsQwZO
- Super Moscato Show (@Moscato_Show) February 26, 2021
In early February, Roxana Maracineanu gave the green light to the FFR so that the XV of France can play in the Tournament on the dates scheduled, despite the appearance of the British variant of Covid-19.
“It was a decision awaited by everyone in rugby: the FFR sent us a strict health protocol, and the decision was taken within the government that the Tournament be held on the date scheduled from February 6 with a sanitary bubble, as during the Tour de France, she said.
The constraints will mean that the players will be exempt from the septaine in force.
They will undergo tests every three days and will remain in a bubble with 30 players (31 exactly), ”she said.
In the end, things didn't turn out that way.
And the health bubble put in place around the Blues has turned into a fiasco ...
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