Mon Mar 16, 2020 1:16 pm
Welsh health minister addresses decision to postpone Wales v Scotland
Monday 16th March 2020
Wales’ health minister Vaughan Gething has addressed the WRU’s decision to postpone Wales v Scotland at the weekend, saying the union was in a “pretty extraordinary position”.
The WRU announced on Friday afternoon that the game was off, even though Vaughan Gething had announced on Thursday in a press conference that the match was to go ahead as scheduled despite the coronavirus outbreak.
Gething made it clear that the medical advice had not changed, but the WRU felt compelled to act due to the changing sporting landscape - with the vast majority of fixtures having been postponed because of the growing coronavirus crisis.
And speaking on BBC Radio Wales on Sunday morning, the Welsh Health Minister was asked whether it was a mistake not to postpone the match earlier.
“I think it’s really difficult,” he said.
“The WRU found themselves in a pretty extraordinary position.”
When asked whether a negative response from the public was a factor behind the swift u-turn, Gething said: “Do you just say public opinion is the single determining factor?
“In all of this, there’s lots of public opinion on schools closed and we’re not going to close schools tomorrow. That’s not going to happen.
“We may close them at some point if it’s a necessary measure.
“It’s about what you expect decision makers to do. The medical advice about the risk to people going to the rugby didn’t change.
“What did change was the fact that the rest of sporting world decided that, regardless of that advice, they wanted to put off events.”
Health and Social Services Minister, Vaughan Gething