RFU warning to supporters heading to Twickenham
Supporters who suspect they may have been exposed to coronavirus have been warned to stay away from England’s Six Nations match against Wales tomorrow as the outbreak wreaked further havoc on the championship and cast doubts about whether it would be able to be completed for at least six months.
Following an emergency meeting of the Six Nations yesterday, it was confirmed that England’s final match, against Italy in Rome tomorrow week, had become the second fixture to be postponed because of the risk to public health.
The remaining matches, includ
ing France against Ireland in Paris on the same day, are still scheduled to go ahead, but the Rugby Football Union has moved to introduce a raft of measures at Twickenham tomorrow in an attempt to prevent the spread of the virus.
Talks have also got under way to find potential dates for the rearranged games after the Six Nations opted not to play the Italy v England game behind closed doors because of the financial impact it would have had on the Italian Rugby Federation.
However, with almost no wriggle room in the domestic and international schedules following the World Cup in Japan, it is almost certain that the Six Nations matches will have to be played next season, even if the risks ease in the next couple of months.
The situation is complicated further by the access to England’s players, as any rearranged matches would take place outside World Rugby’s international windows, which would mean a deal would have to be struck with the clubs.
The ticket revenue and corporate hospitality are understood to be worth more than £5 million, which was a key consideration when the decision was taken to postpone the match, rather than follow the decree by the Italian government for sporting events to be played behind closed doors until at least April 3. The cash-strapped union would have missed out on gate receipts for a 73,000 sell-out.
Ireland’s home match against Italy, which had been scheduled for tomorrow, was also postponed because of public health concerns.
More than 20,000 England supporters were due to travel to Rome. Tickets will still be valid for the rearranged match but many have been left out of pocket because of the cost of non-refundable flights.
“We understand the decision to postpone all three England matches against Italy [men’s, women’s and under-20s] is taken in the interests of overall public health,” Bill Sweeney, the RFU chief executive, said. “We know this will be disappointing for all the fans who were set to travel.”
The RFU’S extra precautions for tomorrow’s match include the positioning of hand sanitisers and personal hygiene information posters. Staff have been provided with guidance on coronavirus and preventive control. “Anyone who thinks they may have contracted the virus or been exposed to it should not attend the match,” warned the RFU.
George Ford, the England flyhalf, said postponement was the right decision as “there’s other things going on in the world that are a little bit more important [than rugby].
“When we were in Japan, there was the typhoon. There are bigger things than rugby and sport that are more critical than us playing in a rugby game at the weekend. But this needs to be dealt with and we’ll do what is the right thing. There are a lot of things out of our control, so there’s not so much we can do it about it.”
When asked if England could help lift the national gloom over the coronavirus outbreak for what could be one of the last major international matches played in front of a capacity crowd before the Government is forced to introduce similar restrictions to its Italian counterparts, head coach Eddie Jones said: “I just said to the boys, we want to play rugby where that 80,000 will come back regardless of what’s going on.
“That’s the level of intensity, energy and accuracy that we want to play with. Obviously, Wales want to stop us doing that, so it’s going to be a grand battle.”