The Calcutta Cup clash between England and Scotland will take place in front of a full house at Murrayfield after Nicola Sturgeon announced the end of restrictions on outdoor sporting crowds.
The Scottish government last month capped attendances at 500 people to combat the spread of the omicron variant. That led to the start of contingency planning for Scotland’s home Six Nations matches against England on February 5 and France on February 26 to be played behind closed doors or even moved to England.
However, on Tuesday, Scottish First Minister Sturgeon announced that the cap on crowds at outdoor events will be lifted from Monday. The decision was welcomed by the Scottish Rugby Union, which would have stood to lose millions if home matches were played without crowds. In a statement, the SRU said: “This will enable the forthcoming Guinness Six Nations matches to go ahead and we continue, as planned, to host England and France at BT Murrayfield. We will continue to support public health measures being implemented in Scotland and work to ensure required mitigations on those attending matches for our professional and national teams are put in place.”
Sturgeon’s move to lift the ban on crowds will increase pressure on Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford to follow suit. A decision is likely to be announced next week on whether Wales could host fans at the Principality Stadium for their home matches against Scotland on February 12, France on March 11 and Italy on March 19.
The Welsh Rugby Union has explored staging matches in England if restrictions remain in place and businesses in Cardiff city centre have warned that they stand to lose tens of thousands of pounds, but Drakeford insists his decision will solely be guided by the science.
“Next week will be the end of a three-week review period,” Drakeford said. “If we are very fortunate – and it’s a very big if – and we find we have passed the peak and we are on a reliable reduction in impact of coronavirus on us, then we will look to see what we can do to relax some of the protections we have had to put in place. But we will not do it until we are confident the scientific and medical advice to us is that it is safe to move in that direction.”
Meanwhile, this weekend’s European Champions Cup and Challenge Cup matches are now expected to go ahead with the French government expected to lift the requirement for teams to quarantine for 48 hours. English Premiership teams were prepared to boycott their matches in France over the requirement over fears that players would have to isolate in France for a further 10 days if they produced a positive test.
Newcastle face Biarritz in the Challenge Cup on Friday night while Bath and Sale Sharks are due to play La Rochelle and Clermont Auvergne respectively in the Champions Cup. Welsh side Scarlets faced a similar quandary over their match in Bordeaux.
The French sports ministry is expected to announce on Wednesday that clubs will be given dispensation to avoid quarantine which should allow the matches to go ahead. Sale are understood to be flying out on the morning of their game.
European Professional Club Rugby, the competition organiser, has cancelled the seven matches which were postponed in December because of French government travel restrictions. The matches will be classified as 0-0 draws with both teams getting two points. “In an increasingly complex fixture calendar due to Covid-19, it was regrettably decided the only choice was to cancel the matches,” EPCR said in a statement. However, it reiterated that other matches called off because of Covid outbreaks will remain a 28-0 defeat. It means Bristol Bears have seven points without having played a match so far.
