JAMES HARRINGTON
FRENCH COLUMN

This was supposed to be derby weekend in France’s Top 14. The usual celebrations were already out of the window because of the current health situation, but the league’s marketing people were doing their best to drum up at least a sense of local rival intensity, even if the games themselves were to be played behind closed doors.
Then Covid-19 put paid to their best-laid ‘e-ticket’ plans for social media-led, empty stadium supporter involvement, with four matches – Montpellier v Toulon, Brive v Clermont, Agen v Bordeaux ...