Ireland vs Italy Six Nations game cancelled over coronavirus fears

All three Six Nations matches between Irish and Italian teams next weekend have been cancelled due to the deadly outbreak of coronavirus

Ireland’s Six Nations match against Italy next weekend has been called off due to fears over the coronavirus outbreak, throwing the championship into chaos with two rounds still remaining.

All three fixtures between Ireland and Italy have been postponed, meaning that both the women’s match and under-20s game will not take place either, with the Irish Rugby Football Union looking to reschedule them in the near future.

Approximately 5,000 fans were expected to travel from Italy to Dublin, and though the match at the Aviva Stadium has been cancelled, tourists are still able to head to the Irish capital with the majority already having flights and accommodation booked.

With the men’s fixture, which was due to take place on Saturday 7 March, postponed indefinitely, and England due to travel to Rome to face Italy for their final fixture on 14 March, serious doubts have emerged over the conclusion of this year's tournament due to the lack of alternative dates and uncertain future surrounding the deadly outbreak.

Speaking after attending a meeting with Ireland’s minister of health Simon Harris, IRFU chief executive Philip Browne said: “I just wanted to stress at the very outset that we made it clear to the minister and his advisors that we’re fully supportive of whatever steps they feel are necessary to safeguard public health in light of the coronavirus and this was not about the decisions that they feel need to be taken in relation to protecting public health. We’re fully supportive of that.”

An IRFU statement added: “We had a very positive meeting with Mr Harris and his advisors where we requested an instruction as to the staging of the Ireland vs Italy international matches over the weekend 6-8 March. At the meeting we were informed that the national public health emergency team have determined that the series of matches should not proceed in the interests of public health.

“The IRFU is perfectly happy to comply with this instruction. We will immediately begin to work with our Six Nations partners to look at the possibility of rescheduling those three matches. I will hope to have an update on that in the coming days.”

China – where the coronavirus outbreak originated – has reported 77,658 cases and 2,663 deaths caused by the Covid-19 virus that has spread to a variety of countries, including Italy, where authorities have swiftly put in restrictions. But as of Wednesday afternoon, 11 people have died in the northern Italian regions of Lombardy and Veneto, while there have been more than 350 confirmed cases.

Attention will now turn to the remaining fixtures in round four as France are due to travel to Edinburgh for their encounter with Scotland, while the final weekend sees England head to Rome to face Italy, as well as Ireland go to Paris to take on France – with the women’s and under-20s fixtures mirroring that schedule.

The biggest issue for the Six Nations is the limited time available to reschedule the matches. The remainder of the 2019/20 season is filled with club rugby fixtures, and players will not have to be released for any matches that fall outside of the regulated international windows, while both the Premiership and Pro14 finals will be held on 20 June before national teams depart for their summer tours that take place across July.

Ireland and England are due to wrap up their summer commitments on 11 July before flying back home, while Italy will be in action in Argentina for an additional week, before players embark on their off-season. The new Premiership season is scheduled to start on the weekend of 11-13 September, while autumn international Tests in November have already been scheduled, leaving little wiggle room in the calendar for rearranged Six Nations fixtures.

Should any more matches fall by the wayside, the ordeal will mirror the foot-and-mouth outbreak of 2001 that caused three games in Ireland to be delayed until the autumn. More recently, Ireland’s away trip to France was abandoned 10 minutes before kick-off in 2012 due to a frozen pitch, although the fixture was rearranged for the following weekend as the championship staged one of its two bye weeks.