Doubts creep in over Wallabies v France Test series
NEWS: Rugby Australia chief Andy Marinos said Wednesday he was confident the Wallabies’ July Test series against France will go ahead despite ongoing complications from Covid-19.
Les Bleus are due to face Australia three times over 10 days on July 7, 13 and 17 in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
But just weeks before they are set to arrive for a mandatory 14 days in quarantine, the logistics are still being thrashed out.
According to reports, the French remain unhappy with the strict quarantine requirements, which would see them spend their time in a hotel with minimal contact with each other outside training.
“We’re in continued communication with them, almost on a daily basis,” Marinos told the Sydney Morning Herald.
“There is a lot of moving parts to it all, both on their side and our side, just getting final lists together and getting all the requirements we need to help them from a high performance perspective.
“It’s fair to say conversations are progressing well and we’re making some good inroads. I remain confident we will be able to deliver this event.”
Complicating matters is an ongoing outbreak of coronavirus in Melbourne, which has seen the city in lockdown for two weeks, impacting sporting events.
Marinos said contingency plans were in the works should the Melbourne Test be affected.
“We are looking at Plan A and Plan B. That’s the reality of it when we’re working in the environment that we’re in,” he said.
“For us, we’re just continuing to monitor how things are progressing in Melbourne and when it’s appropriate we will engage all stakeholders if any further decisions need to be made.
“For now, the schedule is as we’ve presented but we will continue to work with everybody around that.”
The Wallabies won the last meeting between the two sides in November 2016.
