French rugby president Bernard Laporte has confirmed that head coach Fabien Galthie left their Covid bubble, prior to the coronavirus outbreak in the squad.
Their round three Six Nations meeting with Scotland yesterday had to be postponed after 16 positive Covid-19 cases were returned in the squad following their win against Ireland on February 14th.
Galthie was one of the first people in the French camp to test positive, leading to the eventual postponement of their round three fixture.
It has been confirmed that the head coach did leave their "team bubble" on February 7th, when he went to Paris to watch his son Mathis play a game at the Stade Jean-Bouin. However, Laporte insists Galthie has done nothing wrong, and will not lose his job.
Speaking to French TV last night, French rugby president Laporte said:
"For me, he has the right to leave from the moment he is masked. He was outside.
"He watched the match alongside Thomas Lombard (the director general of the Stade Francais team), who himself is tested every three days and also wore a mask."
"I don't see where the problem could be but then again I am not a doctor.
"Why wouldn't I support him? I am not a prosecutor. And it's not because I really like Fabian. He knows very well that I don't give gifts to people," he said.
The postponed game between France and Scotland is yet to be rescheduled, with reports suggesting it may be July before the game can be completed.
Les Bleus face England at Twickenham on Saturday March 13th, before a potential Grand Slam decider against Wales on Saturday March 20th.
French sports minister Roxana Maracineanu had threatened to withdraw the French team's authority to compete in the Six Nations if the origin of the outbreak was not investigated.
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