Did Fabien Galthié follow all the rules of strict protocol to prevent Covid-19 from infiltrating the XV of France?
According to L'Equipe, the answer is no.
The coach of the Blues, who is one of the 14 positive cases for the coronavirus officially identified by the French rugby federation (FFR), is accused of having pierced the health bubble that was to protect the tricolor rugby players in this Six Nations Tournament.
The coach of the Blues would have broken the rules in force at the beginning of the week leading to the trip to Ireland.
Fabien Galthié was one of the first two to test positive, with a physical trainer whose name has not been filtered.
According to our information, the latter did not break the protocol.
“All my actions comply with health protocol.
I do not understand these unjustified accusations ”, answers the boss of the XV of France to the sports daily.
Decision Wednesday for France-Scotland
If it is impossible to link this failure to the wave of contaminations which then hit the Blues, it raises questions from the point of view of exemplarity.
Especially since in parallel, the vice-president of the FFR, Serge Simon, designated the physical trainer as "patient zero" of the Blues.
Did he deliberately cover up Fabien Galthié's misconduct?
Its president, Bernard Laporte, was he aware and if so, did he mention it during his meeting with Sports Minister Roxana Maracineanu on Monday?
While the Six Nations Committee meets Wednesday to determine whether or not to postpone the meeting between France and Scotland on Sunday, the information will further disrupt the preparation of the XV of France.
