THURSDAY 5 MARCH 2020 WWW.INDEPENDENT.CO.UK

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Cup march continues

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England’s Six Nations

campaign in doubt

JACK DE MENEZES

England’s final Guinness Six Nations match

against Italy at the Stadio

Olimpico will either be played behind closed

doors or postponed due to the outbreak of the

coronavirus.

It comes after an Italian government decree

released yesterday said all sporting

events would not be open to the public until 3

April in an attempt to halt the spread

of Covid-19.

Sources at the Italian Rugby Federation and

Italian Olympic Committee have

confirmed that England’s climax to the

Championship, originally scheduled for 14

March, could now be replayed at a later date.

Six Nations organisers are being guided by

government directives and, in light of the

decree, they will discuss the fate of the game

with the English and Italian unions today.

It is understood that cancelling the match

altogether is not an option under

consideration.

Rearranging the fixture will be difficult and an

estimated 20,000 England fans were due to

travel to Rome, with their plans now in chaos.

Broadcasters ITV and BBC have reportedly

abandoned plans to send

commentators and pundits to Rome.

PFA apologises to Leko over

racist abuse

BEN BURROWS

SPORTS EDITOR

The Professional Footballers’

Association has apologised to Jonathan

Leko after the West Brom forward

accused the organisation of failing to

support

him as a victim of racist abuse.

Leeds goalkeeper Kiko Casilla was

banned for eight matches on Tuesday

after an independent panel found him

guilty of using a racial slur towards

Leko in September.

Leko said he had received minimal

contact from the PFA and was

“made to feel like he had done

something wrong” at an “extremely

stressful” hearing.

“We’d like to apologise to Jonathan,” a

PFA statement read. “We do not want

any player to feel unsupported when

going through something as difficult as

this.”