A whole day of championship played on a Sunday during the holidays. Too bad the Covid has invited itself again.
–
–
Fini duplicates and European cuts but still a postponement due to Covid-19: the Top 14 will not be freed from all its ills for its Boxing Day, this December 27, but it will at least regain most of its vital forces, except those from Castres and Bayonnaise.
French rugby was hoping for a full day, with programming grouped together on Sunday and all its internationals available on deck. It missed. The announcement, Saturday afternoon, of the postponement of the match which was to oppose the CO to AB due to cases of coronavirus within the Basque club – possibly contaminated by Leicester, his previous opponent in the context of the Challenge Cup – relaunches a refrain already heard too much since the summer.
To the tenors to ensure the show
Placed in front of a merciless calendar and which it is not sure that it can be held in the event of a rebound in the epidemic after the holidays, the clubs continue to make do with it. This 12th round is the turning point with finally full staff after the interminable international window (seven weeks) in the fall. And we must act quickly! The block which begins will last only three weeks, before the return of the European Cups, in mid-January, then that of the duplicates attributable to the Tournament of VI Nations, at the beginning of February.
The tenors are expected to provide the show, in the wake of their very good overall performance (nine successes for three setbacks) on the continental scene. In particular La Rochelle (1st), which hosts Montpellier (12th), and Toulouse (2nd), which receives Bordeaux-Bègles (8th) in a clash between the last champion and the frustrated leader of last season, interrupted by the pandemic.
This 12th day is placed under the sign of solidarity with the hospital body. Thus special swimsuits, a nod to the gowns of nursing staff, were manufactured for Toulon and Clermont-Ferrand.