THE title defence for the Bathurst Bulldogs and CSU have been put on hold with all Central West Rugby Union competitions cancelled and club trainings postponed until the first week of May.
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The decision, effective immediately, comes on the back of a decision from Rugby Australia on Monday afternoon.
In the face of the rapidly developing coronavirus outbreak, the National Development Panel, Rugby Australia and state and territory member unions unanimously agreed to postpone all community rugby for over six weeks.
The postponement includes rugby matches, training, and face-to-face education courses, and means all competitions from the Blowes Clothing Cup to the three new Westfund Cups down to Wallas will all be scrapped for the time being.
Both the Bathurst Bulldogs, the Blowes Cup defending champions, and CSU, who won last year's New Holland premiership, had been training hard in the build up to the 2020 season.
Bulldogs had planned to send two teams to the Blayney Rams Gala Day this Saturday, a tournament which has now been cancelled.
CSU, which is celebrating its 50th year, has postponed its planned Old Mitchell Day.
The Bathurst Bulldogs Junior Rugby Club has also been impacted.
"As a result, effective immediately, all training, including under 12s and twilight sevens is cancelled," the club's president Mike Curtin said.
A Facebook post from the CWRU said the organisation was committed to ensuring some form of "meaningful competition" in 2020.
A spokesperson for Ruby Australia said it hadn't made the decision lightly.
"[The decision] has been made with the interests of the participants, families and the broader community as the priority," the spokesperson said.
"The group acknowledges that this decision is a more conservative approach then has currently been recommended by the Australian, State and Territory Governments.
"However, it has been made to provide clarity to the Rugby community in a challenging and disruptive time."
A panel of the organisations will meet weekly "for the foreseeable future" to review the position and communicate regular updates.
Previously, rugby clubs had been advised to avoid sharing drink bottles and avoid unnecessary contact, but the situation has heightened across the week with the state recording a record jump in cases on Monday.
