It’s the morning after the non-event before and everybody is looking for somebody to blame for the way last night’s cancelled Six Nations clash was handled.
The main man getting a kicking today is referee Dave Pearson as he is one who made the decision to cancel the game. He is also the man that said it would go ahead just two hours beforehand.
He is certainly the man that French Rugby Federation President Pierre Camou is blaming.
“I cannot speak for the referee as he for his own reasons has chosen not to appear to explain himself,” said Camou.
“I am worried that two hours before kick-off everything seemed fine. I’m thinking of all the fans who have come from afar. We always take responsibility for the pitches but we are not responsible for the decision to call it off. I’m not sure the argument of safety is suddenly a good one at 8pm.
“I watched the Italy v England game earlier on where the pitch was covered in snow in places, and I would like to remind you that the referee was French!”
Six Nations representative Christine Connolly was also directing the issue towards the English whistler.
“Unfortunately on the advice of the referee it was decided that it was unplayable. He came here yesterday and inspected it under the covers and then again at 19.30 (18.30 GMT) this evening and it was playable,” she said last night.
“However, sadly in the 90 minutes after the covers were drawn back it froze over in several areas and was unplayable.”
But former Irish boss Eddie O’Sullivan has put the blame squarely on the French authorities.
“Obviously you can’t blame the referee, he made the decision based on what he thought was best for all concerned. He had to protect the players,” he said.
“To consider there were 80,000 people at the stadium and millions of people watching at home and at the final moment the game was postponed, it beggars belief.
“If Dave Pearson had put the players on that surface and a player had got badly hurt, he would have to take the blame for that. He did what was right.”
Whoever was to blame the game still has to be played. It may be next weekend or it may be the weekend of March 2/3/4. We won’t know until tomorrow but we can expect a lot of angry callers to Liveline tomorrow. Can’t wait.
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