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| - While it was "not ideal" that several Stade Francais players had suffered lung damage after contracting the coronavirus, general manager Thomas Lombard said on Thursday that the club had no intention of cancelling their opening Top 14 game on September 4. "We haven't made any such request," Lombard told AFP. Stade are due to open their season at home to Bordeaux-Begles, who were top of the table when last season was abandoned. Stade announced several positive cases in their squad on August 6, on their return from a training camp in Nice. Four days later, Stade sent players and coaches into isolation for at least a week. Lombard said compulsory scans had detected "traces" on the lungs of a few players. He said that the lung lesions should not be a long-term problem for the players. "I'm not a doctor," he said. "But specialists tell me that it's something that goes away in about eight days. A good week. They have to be patient with the pain." Lombard's side, who are funded by billionaire owner Hans Peter-Wild and had the league's biggest budget last season, have cancelled their two pre-season matches. "We have players who are really behind, we weren't able to play our friendlies," Lombard said. "It's sure that, starting the players in a full-on league match like the one we have to do against Bordeaux-Begles, is not ideal," he said. "We think the situation will improve, we'll get our players back. The cases with traces on the lung, it concerns very few players. Which means the other are back playing little by little," he added. mca-pyv/iwd/pb/dj
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