French clubs delay decision on Paris return date

Ireland’s hopes of a swift resolution to finding a new date for the postponed RBS 6 Nations clash in Paris were stymied last night by a club versus country conflict in France.

The IRFU have given a preferred date of Saturday, March 3 to allow a full seven-day turnaround between both the Italy game in Dublin on February 25 and the Scotland game on March 10 but the French Federation have their Top 14 clubs to convince and their Ligue Nationale du Rugby (LNR) is not keen to lose its top players for another round of league matches, which would be the case in March.

A final decision is expected today when the Six Nations Council representatives from both countries reconvene for a lunchtime teleconference to nail down a new date for the game called off by referee Dave Pearson last Saturday night.

Pearson postponed the fixture just six minutes before the scheduled 9pm local time kick-off as patches of the Stade de France became unplayable in the freezing conditions, with the Six Nations Council declaring the new date would be either this weekend or on the weekend of March 2/3/4.

Instead of finalising it during talks between IRFU representatives Peter Boyle and Pat Whelan and their French counterparts yesterday, the Six Nations Council could only announce that this weekend had been ruled out as there were “very significant logistical issues arising from this situation”.

Six Nations Council spokesperson Christine Connolly told the Irish Examiner the representatives had exchanged ideas on potential dates and had gone back to their respective Unions.

“In France, they must go to their national championship as well,” Connolly said. “So they need to go back and find a solution, find a space to play this rescheduled game. So it’s just a question of that for the delay.”

Connolly was not prepared to say which dates were discussed but she said the issue was more complex on the French side of the table.

“It’s more France than Ireland really. They’re the ones concerned about their people taking part in the rescheduled game,” she added.

Connolly said she could neither confirm nor deny whether a June date was on the table, as has been reported in France by sources from within the LNR but that she was “aware” of the French league’s desire to have the game delayed until the end of their Top 14 season.

Sources inside the Ireland camp were more forthright though, labelling the possibility of a June or even September date as “ludicrous” and insisted March 3 was the only date on the table as far the IRFU was concerned.

Playing outside the traditional tournament parameters in June, said the source, was “unacceptable” as it was damaging to the integrity of the tournament on principle and unworkable in practicality because Ireland have a three-Test tour to New Zealand in June, preceded by a non-cap international with the Barbarians on May 29 in Gloucester.