Allan Massie: Awarding Scotland a 28-0 win over France would be absurd

Scrum-half Antoine Dupont was of several players in the French squad to test positive for Covid-19.

Disappointment is the first response to the postponement of what should have been tomorrow’s match in Paris.

Then comes concern about the difficulty in finding a new date. The Six Nations Committee decided months ago that postponement was the proper course, rather than following the precedent established in the Autumn Nations Cup and the European club competitions, which saw the side not responsible for the cancellation on the due date given a 28-0 victory and five championship points. Even a Scot full of admiration for Gregor Townsend’s team must admit that there would have been an element of absurdity in granting us an imaginary 28-0 victory in the Stade de France.

Townsend is right to insist that the match should be rearranged for a date when he has all his fit players available; that is, when he can call on those who play their club rugby in England or France. Some may be unsympathetic to his demand, and say “tough: this is what happens when your domestic professional game is too weak for you to keep your best players at home under your control. Look at Ireland, and see the difference. If Townsend is in this difficulty, it’s because the SRU has managed the transition to professionalism so incompetently.”

A fair point, some may say, but, happily in the circumstances, perhaps an irrelevant one. France too will have difficulty in persuading clubs to release players outwith the dates prescribed by World Rugby. So indeed would England, while, if Wales were in Scotland’s position, Wayne Pivac might be speaking just like Gregor, for he would be in danger of being deprived of Dan Biggar and his new brightly shining star Louis Rees-Zammit. The truth is that only Ireland of the Six Nations countries has unfettered control of its Test match squads.

Scotland coach Gregor Townsend wants his best players available for the rescheduled France match.