England's final Guinness Six Nations match against Italy in Rome on March 14 has been postponed due to the spread of coronavirus.
Tournament organisers faced the option of playing the game behind closed doors at the Stadio Olimpico or delaying it until later in the year and have chosen the latter option.
While the game could have gone ahead behind closed doors, reports suggest the huge financial loss Italy would have incurred from missing out on a packed stadium mean the preference is for the game to be played at a later date.
ITV and the BBC have already abandoned plans to send staff to the match even if it was played.
This is not the first cancellation of the tournament.
The Ireland v Italy game which was scheduled for this weekend has already been cancelled.
Former World Cup winning coach Sir Clive Woodward has called for this year’s Six Nations to be called off completely.
Woodward said rugby must step in line with the advice from the experts and call the tournament off - even going as far to say that postponed matches shouldn’t be rearranged, meaning the 2020 tournament would join the 1972 tournament as the only incomplete tournament since World War II.
“As for the 2020 Six Nations, I would suggest this will be the final weekend. I don’t see how any of the games next weekend can, in good faith, be allowed to take place,” he wrote in his column for the Daily Mail .
“If that’s the case the temptation will be to try to re-arrange — and France will definitely want that if they are still in contention for the Grand Slam — but I would be inclined to call time on this year’s tournament and concentrate our energies on far more important matters.”
Official statement to follow:
