It was inevitable in many ways but the IRFU still needed an instruction rather than a recommendation from the Government to cancel the next round of Guinness Six Nations games involving Italy in Dublin and Cork.

That will have been down to a variety of reasons ranging from contracts to insurance and relationships with the other partners in Six Nations Rugby.

Ticket holders have been asked to hang on to their tickets for the time being until a decision is made on a potential restaging of the match. That could potentially be in an April window that does not clash with the Heineken Cup or it may be pushed back to late summer-early autumn as was the case with the foot and mouth crisis across Britain and Ireland in 2001.

There were plenty yesterday who were critical of Government for overreacting and stopping the game but still allowing the fans to travel. It’s an easy jab in theory but the reality is that 50,000 in a sporting arena, with all the cheering, shouting, hugging and celebrating that goes on is far more likely to serve as a petri dish for the virus to spread than any number of fans dispersed across the city.

Public health is the number one issue here and as things stand it is a fast-moving situation that no one can forecast with any degree of certainty.

Around the world, there are sporting stories breaking around the virus on an hourly basis. here are six to watch out for from the last 24 hours.

Guinness PRO14

Executives of the tournament will meet today to discuss contingency plans based on games being postponed involving Zebre and Benatton Treviso and what might happen in the event of a wider spread or stronger restrictions being put in place.

In a year where the Rugby World Cup had extended the regular rugby season later than normal there is less ‘wriggle room’ to move fixtures and still complete the tournament on schedule at Cardiff City Stadium on June 20th.

There are four ‘blank’ weekends where there is some flexibility but it is too early to say what might need to happen yet.

Tokyo 2020 Torch Relay

Overnight reports from Japan suggest that while the Tokyo 2020 torch relay will still commence in Fukushima on March 29th that some of the welcome and departure ceremonies may be scaled back to avoid larger congregations of people coming together.

Games organisers and the IOC are still saying that plans are proceeding and that the Games will be unaffected but an early training session for Games Volunteers has been put back.

Japan has so far reported 172 confirmed cases of the virus and two deaths.

Dentsu Case Confirmed

5,000 workers with Dentsu, the marketing agency for Tokyo 2020 have been told to work from home after one of their colleagues in Tokyo was confirmed as having contracted the virus.

The company headquarters in the city have been disinfected and four workers closest to the man with the virus have been placed in isolation.

GAA Preparing Contingency

Meetings were held yesterday involving senior management and officials at the GAA to plan for any order from the government to call off large public gatherings.

The Allianz Leagues were hard hit in 2001 but completed one month behind schedule and all of this weekend’s games will proceed as planned, subject to any dramatic change.

Football

England are due to play Italy in a friendly at Wembley Stadium on March 27th.  That is likely to be a bellwether event for any potential impact on the Euror 2020 Finals which will take place across 12 European Cities across June and July.

Horse Racing

British racing authorities have formed a special group to monitor the situation ahead of the Cheltenham Festival getting underway on March 10th.

Read More: Looking Back on the Foot and Mouth Crisis of 2001