gareth davies, the wru chairmanjust pitch side said in the last 40 minutes said the reasons why it wasement saying that on medical advice there is no reason why we can‘t have a large public gathering, and this match goes ahead. a little over four hours later, the statement came out saying that whilst medical advice remains consistent, we have decided it is in the best interest of supporters, players and staff to fall in line with recent measures taken across the uk and global sports industries to fall in line with football, because after they released that statement in the morning, we had, as you are mentioning, the premier league, afl and scotland as well all shutting down for a number of weeks, and this place was going to be the last major eventin place was going to be the last major event in the world to be played out in front of spectators, and there was just the feeling that they didn‘t want to be the last ones standing. they were very aware of the disbelief from the public. they didn‘t want that backlash that they we re didn‘t want that backlash that they were going to be going a

you just sense that was the wake—up call for the wru and that is what i put to their chairman garething, before we understood what the other sporting bodies were doing as well in terms of the afl, the premier league, and the celtic rangers match, plus worldwide, we understood that other major sporting events that were global such as the australian grand prix, players championship in jacksonville, they we re championship in jacksonville, they were also being pulled, so we made a decision. we spoke to the government in terms of whether they had changed their stance, but it had not changed until the weekend, but we decided as the board that the right decision was to call the game off. and what about the fans in cardiff and those who have travelled from scotland ? it was a packed train down. we broke the news to several scottish fans. they kind of shrugged their shoulders, said it was inevitable, but there are many fans who travelled from further afield that we re travelled from further afield that were pretty upset because of this delay. they saw that first statement, didn't cancel thei

be going ahead in spite of all the other sports taking the lead, so you just feel the sense that the wru are taking stock and saying, look, we cannot go ahead because of how quickly moving this situation is. perhaps on monday, gareth davies told us, that government health advice could be very different, so this match is off. the final round of six nations fixtures are a complete write—off. everybody seems to be falling into line. thank you. in the midst of all these cancellations and postponements, there is some sport to bring you,the cheltenham festival has gone ahead this week. today was gold cup day. lizzie greenwood hughes is there and it's safe to say there was a popular winner. i feel honoured to bring you a result. willie mullins and al boum photo, that becomes the first horse since 2004 to win sit... it was that early success that caused the odds to planet on al boum photo. 130 favourite he was, and it was very close. if that race had been a few more yards, i think santini might have caught him on the line, but i spoke to willie on the —— after the race, and he said he was confid

the wru say they have followed the medical guidance and the welsh government has said they are consideringwing the guidance they have been given, although some welsh mps says they will not be coming to the game because they do not want to ta ke game because they do not want to take the risk. the number of cases in wales has doubled in the last 36 hours to 38.1000 in wales has doubled in the last 36 hours to 38. 1000 have been tested. there have been no deaths so far. thank you. our top story this lunchtime: all english and scottish football matches are suspended — because of the impact of coronavirus. gary lineker described the suspension as inevitable and unprecedented in our lifetime. coming up on bbc news, the show must go on. we will bring you the latest from cheltenham ahead of this afternoon's gold cup, where al boum photo looks to defend his title. italy has faced one of the the worst coronavirus outbreaks — with around 15,000 cases and 1,000 deaths so far. in the uk, the government's chief scientific adviser, sir patrick vallance, has said the country is four weeks behind italy "in

in the next 20 minutes or so, the wru are going to hold a media conference picture side which we willand well—being of everyone associated had led them to ta ke of everyone associated had led them to take that decision. earlier, the players championship in florida was cancelled after just one players championship in florida was cancelled afterjust one round. this follows the decision to cancel the pga tour leading up to their masters so augusta national are following suit in a sense by postponing rather than cancelling that masters. it is worth stressing that masters. it is worth stressing that there is still the hope that somewhere in 2020 the first men's major of the year will be played but who knows when that might be. obviously it is a very fluid and dynamic situation at the moment and the organisers face huge headaches across the entire sport to work out across the entire sport to work out a schedule as and when it becomes apparent that it is safe to continue playing golf. cricket, and england‘s test series against sri lanka has been postponed with players and staff returning to