Wales v Scotland Six Nations match is ON despite coronavirus fears, but France-Ireland off

Wales v Scotland will go ahead, as things stand, despite the weekend's other two Six Nations clashes being postponed.

Cardiff's Principality Stadium, where Scotland are due to finish their Six Nations on Saturday. Picture: Getty Images

The France v Ireland match was called off this morning, and there were reports the entire final weekend would be postponed until 31 October.

The SRU told The Scotsman earlier today that it was going ahead on the assumption that Saturday's final Six Nations match against Wales in Cardiff will go ahead as planned, but a spokesman admitted that it was "wait and see" as the coronavirus epidemic continues to spread across the UK.

Following meetings between the UK government and sporting bodies today, the match in Cardiff is on as things stand.

The final weekend of the Six Nations, including Scotland's trip to Cardiff, is in doubt. Picture: Getty Images

A statement from Guinness Six Nations said: "Following instructions received from the authorities in France, the decision has been made to postpone the Round 5 Guinness Six Nations match between France and Ireland. We are still awaiting confirmation for the Women’s and U20s fixtures.

"The Wales v Scotland Guinness Six Nations and U20 Six Nations matches will be going ahead as scheduled.

"The fixture between Wales Women and Scotland Women is also postponed after a Scottish player tested positive for Covid-19 and a further seven members of the Scotland camp (players and management) are self-isolating.

"Six Nations and its constituent Unions and federations will work closely to identify dates on which all postponed matches will take place. No immediate announcement will be made on rescheduling as we will need to discuss with all relevant stakeholders and assess the evolution of the situation."

The number of coronavirus cases in France has risen to nearly 1,200, with the country's death toll from the outbreak at 19. It has already been announced that this week's Paris Saint-Germain v Borussia Dortmund Champions League football match will take place behind closed doors.

UK culture secretary Oliver Dowden told a radio interview earlier that there were no plans to cancel sporting events as the government's COBRA meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Boris Johnson was due to sit in Downing Street, with large public gatherings on the agenda. It was decided after that meeting that scrapping sporting events or having them played behind closed was not necessary on public advice at this stage of the government's strategy to combat the outbreak.

Today two further Covid-19 cases were diagnosed in Wales, taking the total there to six. Scotland has 18 confirmed cases.

The SRU spokesman said: "We are fully intending to go down to Cardiff and complete the championship but it is wait and see. We will take guidance from the relevant authorities. A bit like our match against France yesterday last week was a day-by-day assessment. The decision will ultimately be made by the Six Nations."

Scotland beat France 28-17 in front of a packed 67,000 crowd in Edinburgh yesterday to end the visitors' Grand Slam hopes. Italy, the country hardest hit outside mainland China by the virus outbreak, has already had its last two games away to Ireland and home to England postponed.

After the rousing win over France, Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend said on the public health situation: "In six days, a lot can change. We’ll see. We’re not crossing any borders, we hope the game will go ahead because you put a lot of work into a championship to make sure you play all the games, but the decision will obviously be made for the right reasons.

“We’re looking forward to playing a very good opposition who played really well yesterday, and really well against France, and playing at one of the best venues [Principality Stadium] to play rugby."

The Scotland Women's player tested positive after returning from their late-postponed match against Italy near Milan, in the Lombardy region at the epicentre of the outbreak in that country, where 366 have died and close to 6,000 infected.

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