Six Nations 2020: England v Wales & Scotland v France to go ahead

Ireland's Six Nations game against Italy was postponed on 26 February, 10 days before it was scheduled to be played

England's game against Wales on Saturday and Scotland's match against France on Sunday will go ahead despite the coronavirus outbreak, say Six Nations organisers.

Ireland's encounter with Italy on Saturday and the women's game on Sunday were postponed last week over health concerns.

After a meeting to address the outbreak, the Six Nations said in a statement: "As it stands today, all Six Nations matches currently scheduled are set to go ahead."

England host Wales at Twickenham and Scotland entertain France at Murrayfield.

England women's match in Padua in northern Italy on 15 March could be moved to a different location, but the men's game in Rome on 14 March is set to go ahead.

Six Nations organisers said they have not rescheduled postponed games as they "keep assessing the situation".

The statement read: "Six Nations and its six unions and federations are following the situation very closely with their respective governments and relevant health authorities and will strictly follow any directive given that would impact sporting events."

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England Under-20s' match against Italy in Verona on 15 March could be moved to a different city, with northern Italy one of the areas worst affected by coronavirus outside of China.

Tournament organisers said they would make an announcement on the U20 match and the women's game "in due course".

Ireland's men's and women's Six Nations games against Italy in Dublin on 7 and 8 March respectively, as well as an U20 game on 6 March, were postponed.

Italy women's third-round game against Scotland on 23 February was postponed and is yet to be rescheduled.

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Analysis

BBC rugby union correspondent Chris Jones on the Rugby Union Weekly podcast

As much as the Six Nations can try and get a plan together going forward, it is going to be the governments who decide whether these games go on.

The reason everything escalated around the Ireland v Italy games is that the Irish health minister said the games could not go ahead.

Rearrangements are in the hands of the unions but that is up in the air at the moment. There are Champions Cup quarter-finals in April. I cannot see rearranged Six Nations games taking place before or immediately after that.

Then you are getting into the business end of the season. There is a possibility it could be in the autumn, like 2001 when games were postponed because of foot and mouth disease.

We have no idea how things are moving when it comes to this virus.

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