XV of France: suspected, Galthié remains at the center of the fray

Marcoussis is a desolate land today.

It reigns between the walls of the training center of the XV of France in Essonne an atmosphere of the end of the world.

The buildings, the grounds, the alleys have emptied.

The Blues left this Friday morning, chased away by the English variant of Covid-19.

There will be no France-Scotland this Sunday at the Stade de France.

The players returned to isolate themselves at home.

They will come back later, in ten days or so to prepare for the trip to England on Saturday March 13, or earlier if the match against the Scots was scheduled for Tuesday March 9.

The leaders, they are trying to find an explanation for the intrusive visit of a virus within a supposedly impregnable fortress.

Or rather a parade since they will have to report to the Ministry of Sports while trying to protect the coach Fabien Galthié, suspected of having broken the health bubble.

The Habs in isolation

After the revelation of a twelfth positive case among players on Thursday (undoubtedly the pillar Uini Atonio), the Blues, who had participated in an intensive collective training the day before, were all considered as contact cases and placed in isolation in their rooms.

The arrival of the Scots, this Sunday at the Stade de France, the third round of the Tournament after their successes in Italy (50-10) and Ireland (15-13), was postponed as dry to a later date.

All have tested negative and returned home this Friday, "by individual means," said the Federation.

They will be requalified, if they remain negative, after seven days of isolation from the last contact with a positive player, so next Wednesday.

The twelve who were declared positive (Dupont was the first one a week ago), must isolate themselves for ten days before being able to resume the course of their life.

Some of them felt fits of fever, and annoyance, a lot of annoyance at the lightness of their leaders trapped in smoky justifications.

As much to announce it at the outset, the investigation of the Federation required by the Ministry of Sports will not lead to a conviction of the coach, suspected of having violated the health protocol by leaving Marcoussis one evening, in the week before Ireland- France, February 14.

The operation could even be entitled: "We must save the soldier Galthié".

Laporte seeks the parade

The FFR, which itself is carrying out its "investigations", must provide explanations to the Minister for Sports, Roxana Maracineanu, next week, as to the birth of this embarrassing cluster.

"I requested an investigation and a report from the secretary general who will rely on the medical commission," said Bernard Laporte, the president of the Federation in the program "Super Moscato Show" on RMC.

I want to be told what exactly happened.

There is a 99.9% chance that the virus unfortunately entered via a 7-a-side player who was negative but would have turned positive after an incubation period.

“The Blues of rugby 7 have a good back.

Some of them trained with the XV of France, they were affected by the Covid-19 during their internship in Canet-en-Roussillon last week ... Here they are responsible.

Except that it is strange that they first contaminated Fabien Galthié (first positive case detected on February 16) and part of his staff while they mingled all day with the players of the XV of France, affected only them secondly… "There was never any question of Fabien Galthié leaving," Laporte hammered on RMC.

I don't know if he came out or not.

Did he break the rules?

I asked him the question, he says no to me and I trust him.

The final report will tell me who failed and who did not.

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.

"

The infectious disease specialist Eric Caumes, member of the medical commission of the FFR, also flies to his aid, leaning for a zero patient from the French team at 7. He also believes that the "protocol has been respected".

Given current knowledge of contamination processes and incubation times, it will probably be impossible to determine with confidence the first vector of the virus.

Roxana Maracineanu's cropping

Guest of the “Evening Team” this Friday, the Minister for Sports showed some annoyance.

"Bernard Laporte told us himself before the tournament that the bubble was going to work well," Roxana Maracineanu insisted.

Now that we have seen that this was not the case, we ask him for an explanation.

We also asked the Regional Health Agency (ARS) to support the FFR in its action to trace the chain of contaminations.

"

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Asked about the possible involvement of the coach, the minister assured, looking serious: “If we have authorized the holding of this Six Nations tournament, it engages a responsibility. When you are in a bubble, you have to be careful not to get out of it and to enter it with care. If people haven't done it, you have to be able to take responsibility. I cannot give penalties or fines, but the FFR can. If we do not research and explain to us, the authorization to participate in the competition may be withdrawn. There was a breach. The tournament organizer must also position himself. Scotland was penalized. "