The ramifications resulting from the outbreak of Covid-19 in the French squad could have serious repercussions beyond the postponement of Sunday’s game against Scotland in Paris, with the role of the FFR and the French head coach Fabien Galthié placing them in the eye of a storm. Serge Simon, the vice-president of the FFR and the covid manager of their national teams, had declared that the “patient zero” had been a fitness trainer. “The patient zero, we know him: he is our physical trainer,” said Simon. However, another unpleasant element of this saga was the rather lose observation by the French team manager Raphael Ibanez that the outbreak in the French camp could have originated in Ireland. Given the French squad are understood to have had a live scrummaging session yesterday (Wednesday) there is also a fear that there might yet be more cases of Covid-19 in their squad.

Source: The Irish Times February 25, 2021 18:00 UTC