As expected, Racing 92-La Rochelle launched the seventeenth day of Top 14 at 3.30pm on Saturday. But twenty minutes earlier, the Minister of Health Olivier Véran announced the ban on gatherings of more than 5,000 people in confined spaces to fight against the advance of the coronavirus, which has already affected 73 patients in France.
However, the match is played under the roof of Paris La Défense Arena, an enclosure permanently closed. More than 17,000 people were expected in Nanterre this Saturday afternoon.
Contacted, the National Rugby League says that the same principle was applied as for the Agricultural Show, which remained open this Saturday but which will close in the evening, one day earlier than expected. "The decision was made a few minutes before the match, we were not going to send away all the supporters," said the NRL.
The two Top 14 matches on Sunday, Bordeaux-Bègles-Castres and Toulon-Stade Français, are for the time being maintained. The Ministry of Health, however, announced the cancellation of the Paris half-marathon, scheduled for Sunday. The organizers promise to postpone the race to a later date.