Still no agreement between the league and the federation on the number of matches of the Blues

More than seven months after their last rugby match, on March 8 in Scotland, the Blues will finally play again. But how many matches? The fog thickens on the autumn program of the XV of France in a context of persistent disagreement between the authorities of the tricolor rugby on the provision of internationals.

A friendly against Wales on October 24

Six matches are scheduled from the end of October to the beginning of December, on the occasion of the international autumn window exceptionally widened by World Rugby in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, while the Blues usually play three during this period. First a friendly match against Wales (October 24), to prepare for the last postponed meeting of the 2020 Six Nations Tournament against Ireland (October 31). Then four meetings of the Autumn Nations Cup, with Fiji (November 15), Scotland (22) and Italy (28) on the program, before a final classification match (December 5-6).

But the French championship (Top 14) will continue in parallel and the clubs, employers of internationals, as well as the National Rugby League (LNR), which oversees the competition, are not ready to release the players for so long. It’s five games, no more, repeated unanimously the presidents, gathered by videoconference on Sunday morning, according to a source of the NRL.

The clubs do not want “to be the adjustment variable”

It could be even less if LNR and clubs, on the one hand, and the French Rugby Federation (FFR), on the other, do not find common ground. Because the convention which currently binds them, concerning the provision of internationals, provides for three matches. “We cannot be the adjustment variable for all the problems that the Covid has brought to the fore. We are quite prepared to make an effort. Going from three to five is a major effort but we are ready to assume it (…) Now from the single to the double, it cannot go, ”explained the general manager of the French Stadium Thomas Lombard.

In the worst case, the Blues could therefore play only three games in addition to the last of the 2020 Six Nations Tournament, this one being considered as a case apart since it had been postponed due to the health crisis. On Wednesday, Fabien Galthié summoned 31 players for the duel against the Welsh in Saint-Denis, with a start of the rally planned five days before in Marcoussis (Essonne), Monday, October 19.

But will the coach have the players? It is “imaginable” that the captain of the Blues, the Toulonnais Charles Ollivon, does not play all the matches if some “are not approved by the League”, indicated the president of the RCT Bernard Lemaître. Everything now depends on the outcome of any future discussions between the different parties. The LNR proposed a new conciliation meeting to the FFR on Saturday for Monday. A request remained unanswered on Sunday.

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