Wrexham captain Olly Dodd revealed the WRU’s decision to cancel any form of promotions in leagues across Wales left him ‘absolutely gutted’.

After initially postponing rugby in Wales until the end of March, the WRU announced on Friday that the rugby season would end immediately.

WRU CEO Martyn Phillips announced that it was a tough decision but that it needed to be done.

“We were particularly aware of the impact on clubs with the potential to be promoted or win competitions, but in the end we have had to make the decision to ensure we play our part in safeguarding Welsh communities,” said Phillips.

While Dodd agrees that safety is paramount, he still believes that the leagues should have some form of outcome.

“It was so hard to take on Friday, I was absolutely gutted,” said Dodd.

“The effort that the group has put in to get us where we are has all been for nothing. That isn’t fair. Surely there could’ve been a better way to do it? Just 0-0 the remaining games or anything really.

“If you look at where we were in the table, the top two go up. We are six points clear of third with a game in hand! Four of our last six are against the bottom four clubs, I couldn’t see an outcome where we weren’t getting promoted.

“That’s been snatched out of grasps and it really hurts. Safety is paramount, don’t get me wrong, but there are other ways around it rather than just binning the whole year off, it isn’t fair.

“They’re not going to change their mind though, so we’ve got to suck it up and move on, ready to go again whenever it is we’re allowed to start up. The goal for everyone needs to be promotion again, we know how difficult it is to get out of this league but that is out challenge.

“We’ve been really good all year, no one got the better of us and whilst that is a positive looking forward, teams will also be desperate to be the side to get one over on us. We have to ensure that we keep winning and if we can do that, we’ll eventually end up in Division one.