Gregor Townsend hopes to have stars for France clash

Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend insists their postponed Six Nations clash with France must be rescheduled for a date when he has all his stars available.

The Scots’ Paris trip has been shelved after Fabien Galthie lost another player – the 11th this week – following a coronavirus outbreak in the Les Bleus’ squad.

Reports earlier this week suggested the game could be put back a week – but that sparked frantic calls from Murrayfield to tournament bosses.

Townsend was left worrying that if the game was re-arranged for the Championship’s fallow week he would be denied the services of 10 top performers – including Stuart Hogg and Finn Russell – who are contracted to English and French clubs.

As next weekend lies outside of the international Test window, Top 14 and Premiership sides would be under no duty to release their players for Six Nations action.

Given the scale of the outbreak in the French squad, however, next weekend now appears an unlikely option.

Discussions ongoing

Discussions between the two nations plus Six Nations chiefs and TV broadcasters on a re-arranged date are ongoing and, while reports in France now say July is being considered, Townsend is adamant that whatever page is circled in the diary it must be one which allows him to name a full-strength line-up.

Townsend said: “While we fully accept the decision of the Testing Oversight Group to recommend postponing our match against France on medical grounds, it is disappointing not to be able to play this fixture on Sunday.

“We have had a good week with our players, who were focussed and ready to represent their country in Paris and continue our progress in this year’s Guinness Six Nations.

“Throughout this tournament, and the previous Autumn Nations Cup, we have worked hard to maintain strict Covid protocols which have enabled us to select our strongest possible teams for these important international fixtures.

“We will wait to see what options are available to play this match against France, but it remains our position that we want to have all our eligible players available to us for that fixture, so we can compete to the level we would have done this weekend.

“We wish all the French players and staff affected by Covid well in their recovery and look forward to playing them at a future date.”