Pivac’s men set to play in Llanelli, but doubts over other venues WALES LOOK WEST TO FACE GEORGIA
WALES have confirmed they expect to play their autumn clash with Georgia on home soil as they wait to see whether other games can still go ahead at Premier League grounds in London.
The WRU have been thrown by Boris Johnson’s announcement that a planned return of spectators to sports venues in England could be on hold for six months due to fears over a second wave of coronavirus infections.
Welsh bosses are still weighing up whether their other home games this autumn – against Scotland, England and one match against opponents to be decided – can go ahead as planned at the Premier League home of either Tottenham, Arsenal or West Ham.
The October 31 Scotland fixture is the re-arranged Six
Nations clash from March. Wayne Pivac’s side then meet Ireland (away) and Georgia and England (home) in the one-off Autumn Nations Cup.
Steve Phillips, interim chief executive of the WRU, admitted Llanelli was the likely destination for the November 21 match with the east Europeans.
“The Georgia game will more than likely to be played in Wales with the favoured location being Parc y Scarlets,” said Phillips.
Each of Wales’ home games were planned to be played at yet to be confirmed London venues, but Parc y Scarlets has emerged as the front runner to host the Georgia game.
What happens with the other matches remains up in the air as the WRU assess whether playing in front of crowds in London is definitely ruled out as a result of yesterday’s Westminster announcement.
Even if fans aren’t allowed, with planning and logistics at an advanced stage for the Premier League venues it is unclear whether they could be rescheduled to each be played behind closed doors in Wales.
While the WRU are hoping that the games will have some crowd capacity, they will still provide much needed cashflow after Amazon Prime struck a pay per view deal to televise the Nations Cup.
Games involving Wales will be also be aired free to view by Welsh language terrestrial channel S4C.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a range of restrictions in the House of Commons yesterday lunchtime, including those about gatherings at sporting occasions.
Spectators had been set to return from the start of next month on a sociallydistanced basis, with capacities set to be limited to between 25 and 35 per cent.
England hoped to have 20,000-plus crowds for their Twickenham matches this autumn and Wales had planned to follow suit at Premier League stadia.
Wales go to France on October 24 for a warm-up clash, before meeting Scotland in the Six Nations the following Saturday.
They kick off the Autumn Nations Cup with a group game against Ireland at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin on November 13, before the Georgia and England games.