Coronavirus: WRU chairman defends call to postpone Wales-Scotland game

Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) chairman Gareth Davies believes the right call was made after it was decided to postpone the Six Nations clash with Scotland.

With the British government opting not to ban large events, it seemed as though Wales’ encounter with Scotland would go ahead as planned in Cardiff on Saturday.

However, the WRU confirmed on Friday, 24 hours prior to kick-off, that the match would not be played amid the coronavirus pandemic.

“It has been a tough week,” said Davies in quotes reported by BBC Sport. “But we believe it was the proper and responsible thing to do.”

“I don’t think we could’ve dealt with it any better. We made a decision last night that this match would go ahead. In a very quickly moving world things had changed by late morning today.

Wales’ Guinness Six Nations clash with Scotland at Principality Stadium in Cardiff tomorrow has been postponed.
Further details:https://t.co/STFsyIpWHL@Scotlandteam @SixNationsRugby

— Welsh Rugby Union (@WelshRugbyUnion) March 13, 2020

“We initially followed the advice of government in terms of the scientific and medical evidence and that was the case up until [Thursday] night.

“We had an emergency board meeting to consider everything and we still thought, bearing in mind the advice we had, that keeping the game on was the way to go.

“Last night the Premier League were carrying on but by this morning that had changed and the EFL went on a similar course, as did the Celtic v Rangers game, in all being called off and other major global events were also being pulled.

“We spoke to the government this morning, who understood our position.”

“For us to be the only sporting event to be on, we were mindful of the seriousness of the situation. We took into account supporters, players and staff and asked whether it was essential to subject to that risk.”

KEO.co.za News wire is powered by opta