THE Rugby Football Union have ended the 2019/20 season in England, excluding the Gallagher Premiership, as a result of the coronavirus.

The governing body have yet to decide what implications this will have on the promotions and relegations across the various levels of the sport, though they stated that "We will communicate these outcomes by the middle of April."

A statement by Bill Sweeney, the CEO of the RFU said: "My thoughts and those of all of us at the RFU are with everyone impacted by COVID-19 as well as recent flooding events, both across the country at large but also within our own rugby union community.

"In order to provide clarity and to assist with immediate and longer term planning, the Rugby Football Union is announcing the end of the 2019/20 rugby season for all league, cup and county rugby in England.

"The only exception to this is the Gallagher Premiership, who we are in active discussions with to review possible best next steps.

"When current government advice on social distancing measures changes, we will naturally encourage rugby training and friendlies to recommence.

"I would like to personally thank everyone for their swift actions in suspending rugby activity, this is not an easy time and I know many of you will have concerns that go beyond the game.

"We are working through the implications of ending the season early and have instigated a thorough process to ensure fair and balanced outcomes for the game.

"We will communicate these outcomes by the middle of April.

"While we would like to provide all the answers now, we need some time to get it right for the best interests of the game.

"Rest assured we are working on this as a priority and we will continue to send weekly updates to clubs.

The statement went on to say: "In this extraordinary situation we are working through a range of potential financial scenarios dependent mainly on the length of this crisis.

"This was already budgeted to be a loss making year within a 4 year cycle due to the costs of the 2019 RWC campaign and only hosting two home Six Nations games.

"The loss will now be considerably more as we face challenges similar to businesses across the entire country.

"There may well also be much longer term financial implications which we are assessing now."