Third Bayonne match off
TOP 14 NEWS: Bayonne had a third match of the season postponed, after several Agen players tested positive ahead of the match between the two teams scheduled for the weekend.
The LNR, the body that runs professional rugby union in France, said the match was postponed to a date yet to be decided.
“All our players concerned are asymptomatic and have been put in self-isolation,” Agen tweeted.
Agen are currently bottom of the Top 14 with 15 defeats from as many games.
Bayonne, in 12th position, have already seen two other Top 14 matches postponed and rescheduled, against Castres (February 6) and Toulon (February 27 or 28).
* Meanwhile France youth team manager Sebastien Piqueronies will take over at Pau at the end of the season.
The 43-year-old, who gave up playing when he was 26 to move into coaching, has signed a three-year deal and will oversee the coaching team of Thomas Domingo, Paul Tito and Geoffrey Lanne-Petit.
Pau are currently without a head coach – often called the manager in France – since the sacking in December of Nicolas Godignon and Frederic Manca.
Piqueronies has been in charge of the France under-20 team which won the last two World Cups in 2018 and 2019, bringing through players like Cameron Woki and Donovan Taofifenua who are both in Fabien Galthie’s training squad for the coming Six Nations.
“With Sebastien, we made the choice of a man with strong rugby convictions, of a builder imbued with the culture of winning to take us to a new level,” said Pau president Bernard Pontneau in a statement.
Pau are currently 11th in the Top 14 with five wins to their name this season. They have won one of their two matches in the European Challenge Cup.
