The Welsh government has warned the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) against moving their home Six Nations games to England should they decide to move their games from Cardiff for the annual tournament.
Health Minister Eluned Morgan has told the WRU that they would be disappointed if the games were moved in order to get around the stricter COVID regulations imposed by the Welsh government.
The union stands to lose millions should the games be held behind closed doors, something which the Scottish Rugby Union will also be worried about in the wake of similar regulations imposed by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.
Spectators are currently limited to 500 in Scotland while being banned in Wales with full capacities allowed in England as things stand. Wales are set to host Scotland (12/2), France (11/3) and Italy (19/3) meaning there is time to find a resolution.
The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is being touted as a potential destination for the Welsh and winger Louis Rees-Zammit tweeted in support of the move tweeting that "Rugby is nothing without fans".
It would not be an unprecedented move for Wales to play their Six Nations games in England with Wembley playing host to them during the 1999 Six Nations when the Millenium Stadium was being built.
First Minister of Wales Mark Drakeford will announce the findings of his latest COVID review on Friday as his health minister told the BBC: "Obviously we all want to see the rugby happening in Wales and we'd be disappointed if the WRU made that decision [to go to England].
"Clearly there would be financial consequences for them and there would be an understanding from the Welsh Government that we would have to step in and support them financially if they did have to postpone those matches or to cancel them in some way.
"Obviously if they did go to England it would be more difficult for us to come up with that financial support.
"We'll see what happens. It's early days. The fact is this variant is moving very quickly. What we're hoping is we'll reach the peak and come down very quickly after that. I believe two of the matches are due to played in March so we'll see if we are out of the woods by then."
