Bernard Laporte, Roxana Maracineanu and Jean-Michel Blanquer on the steps of the Ministry of National Education.

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FRANCK FIFE / AFP

  • The FFR delivered the conclusions of its internal investigation report supposed to shed light on the responsibilities of the FFR in the Marcoussis cluster affair.

  • Bernard Laporte was invited to come and discuss the subject with ministers Jean-Michel Blanquer and Roxana Maracineanu on Friday morning.

  • If no rules have been officially broken, new measures have still been announced to strengthen the health protocol.

It was a question of not arriving late, even arriving well in advance, Friday morning at the Ministry of National Education, Youth and Sports, to attend the press point of the Maracineanu-Blanquer-Laporte trio after the submission of the conclusions of the investigation report conducted by the FFR on the Marcoussis clustergate.

While the meeting with the press in the courtyard of the ministry was fixed at 9 am, at 8:50 am everything was folded, and too bad for our colleague left in the middle of the courtyard of the ministry with his question had access to the balance sheet of inflows and outflows of the bubble for members of the France group?

".

As if the three friends had only one desire, that of quickly moving on to something else after two weeks of media mess and contradictory communication about the health bubble, patient zero and waffle tasting in Rome.

Jean-Michel Blanquer took the floor to explain that "concretely, the health protocol has been respected" by the entire France team, despite the many escapades of the coach, the players and the president out of the bubble on the sidelines of the match against Italy in early February.

“There is a report which does notify that the virus was entered by a player [of rugby] Sevens.

The poor have nothing to do with it, there is no question of condemning him, ”for his part announced, Grand Prince, Bernard Laporte.

A state executive will take care of the grain

The Minister in charge of sports then "wished to confirm the importance given to the health of the players and the importance of improving their notion of individual responsibility in relation to themselves because it is their working tool.

"Under a surface varnish, Roxana Maracineanu therefore manages to subtly warn the acquitted of the day:" There is also the notion of collective responsibility in relation to this health crisis.

They are professionals, they must behave as such.

So nobody has faulted, but we still ring the end of recess.

If the words are measured, the atmosphere relaxed and the faces rather smiling, the decisions taken at the end of this meeting show all the same that we are not in the "circulate, there's nothing to see" either. ".

No, "we are never too vigilant," says Blanquer.

“It's true that there is no such thing as zero risk, but we have to pay attention to what happens in everyday life.

It is important in high performance sport to have people who take care of this, he continues.

The Federation has already acquired top-level doctors for this.

Now, we have Raphaël Ibañez [the general manager of the XV of France] who will devote himself to it, plus a state executive appointed by the national technical director.

So if I dare say, it's belt and suspenders.

We are trying to really secure the rest as much as possible.

"

Now it's time to play

Would this be a way, even without citing him by name, to gently put aside Doctor Serge Simon, aka Mr. Covid of the XV of France, whose image has taken a severe hit in the tiles in recent weeks?

There must be a bit of it.

As for the “state executive who will come and help for the rest of the competition,” says Maracineanu, we can see this as a cop who does not say his name.

To sum up, no fault has been attributed to the French Rugby Federation when all the measures announced scream the opposite.

Our file on the XV of France

But could it be otherwise?

The scenario of an OK Corral version of score in the saloon of the ministry, in front of a bed of cameras, would not have been likely to bring down the breath.

However, as Roxana Maracineanu said, “everyone will have to regain confidence and we can prepare as best as possible for the next three matches.

It is true that we would have almost forgotten that there was a Six Nations Tournament to go and win.

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  • Covid 19

  • Coronavirus

  • Sport

  • Roxana maracineanu

  • Jean-Michel Blanquer

  • Bernard Laporte

  • XV of France

  • Rugby