Since the start of the 2020/2021 season, the Top 14 as well as the Pro D2 have not been spared from match postponements due to cases of Covid-19. In the elite, there are not months of six postponements. UBB and Castres were particularly affected with two games less compared to the competition. Racing is also in the same case but if the reception of Toulon could not take place, it is because the two teams were playing a European final. But whatever the reason, the fact is that the ranking is affected. The Girondins are thus 13 points behind the Toulouse leader. It could of course be otherwise if they had won all their matches. But that is not the question. The one that arises is to know when all these meetings can take place in a particularly busy schedule due to the pandemic.
If we take the case of the Pro D2, we realize that there are no more free weekends before February 2021. The NRL had stuck two matches of the first day in early October. She has just stalled three other games postponed to November 13, namely Colomiers vs Rouen, Mont-de-Marsan vs Oyonnax and Valence-Romans vs Montauban. But there are still three games pending: Montauban vs Aix-en-Provence, Carcassonne vs Mont-de-Marsan as well as Oyonnax vs Biarritz. And the list could grow by the end of the year. For now, no match is scheduled before or after Christmas and New Years in Pro D2. But the League could be forced to use these weeks of rest to accommodate these postponements. Otherwise, you will have to wait until the first weekend in February.
What about the pending Top 14 matches? There is a time slot on the weekend of November 21. But we know that this month will be complicated for the elite teams because of the duplication with the Autumn Nations Cup. There is then a two-week “gap” between the 11th and 12th day. But that would be forgetting the European Cups, the 2020/2021 season of which will begin with two rounds on the weekends of 11/12/13 December 2020 and of December 18/19/20, 2020. As a reminder, the format of the Champions Cup has changed, and there will only be four rounds before the finals scheduled for April. However, the European competition will “occupy” the Top 14 clubs until February. As for the Pro D2, the first free weekend will be that of February 6. Kick-off date for the 6 Nations Tournament … which will mark the start of a new period of doubloons. One could however imagine that the League stalls certain matches on February 27, date of France vs Scotland, between the 17th and the 18th day of Top 14.
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