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Lyon players after their close-fought clash with Leinster. Billy Stickland/INPHO

French rugby bosses agree to cancel season, aim to start 20/21 in September

Covid-19 has ended France’s top division after 17 rounds.

FRANCE’S RUGBY COMPETITION organisers the LNR today announced that the Top14 2019/20 season will not be resumed.

Club presidents spoke last night and agreed to abandon plans to restart the season, instead focusing on beginning the 2020/21 season fresh in September.

After 17 rounds of fixtures, Bordeaux had led the Top14 with Lyon occupying second in the table.

“After consultation with the presidents of Top 14 and PRO D2 clubs,” said a statement from the LNR today.

“The Board will propose to the LNR Management Committee not to follow up on having playoffs at the end of August to close the 2019-2020 season, to pronounce the end of this 2019-2020 season and to focus on the organisation of the launch of the 2020-2021 editions of the two championships starting in September 2020.”

The management committee must meet to ratify the decision to cancel the season, but the move has cast further doubt on the viability of the European Rugby season.

Rugby was halted during the Six Nations and ahead of the Champions Cup quarter-finals, which was set to feature three French clubs; the all-French clash between Racing 92 and Clermont, plus Ulster’s trip to Toulouse.

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    Mute Padraic Forde
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    Mar 14th 2020, 8:21 AM

    I need sport, there’s only so much paw patrol I can watch

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    Mute Damian Mac An Bháird
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    Mar 14th 2020, 8:54 AM

    @Padraic Forde: god help us

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    Mute Damian Mac An Bháird
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    Mar 14th 2020, 8:55 AM

    @Padraic Forde: or blippi

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    Mute Mark walsh
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    Mar 14th 2020, 9:04 AM

    @Damian Mac An Bháird: that fckin blippi makes me lose my mind

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    Mute michael
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    Mar 14th 2020, 8:27 AM

    Life itself matters above all else as does our health, but within that life other things matter too. Education, music, theatre and sport matter. As a Liverpool fan I’ve felt guilty about how much I’m worried about the league being lost when peoples health is at risk. But the truth is that sport is a shared experience that brings about happiness, frustration and often sheer ecstasy. More importantly, as we go through it together, it brings us that most basic human need of all, a sense of belonging. This shouldn’t be dismissed or played down because it actually does matter. There’s nothing wrong or contradictory with wanting people to be healthy but also feeling the loss of that shared and very human experience we call sport.

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    Mute Stiofandebarra
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    Mar 14th 2020, 8:44 AM

    I cared for Equilibrium!..not a bad movie at all

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    Mute Dave McAuliffe
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    Mar 14th 2020, 9:12 AM

    @Stiofandebarra: the good old gun kata

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    Mute Phil O Stine
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    Mar 14th 2020, 3:19 PM

    With all the sport gone I have had to talk to my wife and kids….. they are actually not that bad really

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    Mute Punters Pal
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    Mar 14th 2020, 6:42 PM

    Without sports life is boring as fook

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    Mute Punters Pal
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    Mar 14th 2020, 6:42 PM

    Without sport life is boring as fook

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