Update 1330

Saturday’s Guinness Six Nations match between France and Ireland has been postponed.
News is still awaited on the Women’s and U20 matches.
No date has been scheduled for the game to be replayed.
Six Nations rugby issued a statement confirming that:

“Following instructions received from the authorities in France, the decision has been made to postpone the Round 5 Guinness Six Nations match between France and Ireland.  We are still awaiting confirmation for the Women’s and U20’s fixtures.”

Six Nations and its constituent Unions and federations will work closely to identify dates on which all postponed matches will take place. No immediate announcement will be made on rescheduling as we will need to discuss with all relevant stakeholders and assess the evolution of the situation.”

As things stand at the moment the game in Cardiff between Wales and Scotland will go ahead.

Update 1130

Reports from France suggest that the game will be postponed and that the Six Nations have decided to postpone all the weekend games until October 31st.
More to follow…
Original story 0730

Next weekend’s Guinness Six Nations match between Ireland and France in Paris looks unlikely to go ahead after last night’s decision by French authorities to ban public gatherings of more than 1,000 people.

There will be exceptions in the case of events deemed as ‘useful to the life of the country’ but those listed in the statement were ‘protests, exams and public transportation.’

Paris St Germain’s match in French League 1 football was postponed on Saturday and it appears that many more sporting and cultural events will follow suit.

The French Rugby Federation had confirmed 24 hours before that the three games involving the U20, Women’s and men’s games would go ahead though this was before the Government statement expanding measures to contain the virus.

There is the possibility that the game at Stade de France could be played behind closed doors with the French Government covering the financial loss that would otherwise be incurred. This would allow for TV coverage to proceed.

The game between Italy and England has already been called off meaning that the destination of the Championship cannot be determined next weekend regardless of whether the game is played.

Tournament organisers have pledged to finish the tournament when time allows and this is most likely in the autumn as was the case in 2001 when Ireland’s last three games had to be pushed back because of measures introduced to combat foot and mouth disease.

Confirmation on the destiny of Saturday’s game and those on Friday and Sunday is expected today.




Image Credit: Sportsfile