Danny Cipriani's hopes of playing himself back into Six Nations contention suffered a setback on Friday when the England reserve team's match with Ireland A in Dublin was postponed and will not be rescheduled.
The match, scheduled to take place at Donnybrook on Friday night (7.35pm), was cancelled after the frozen pitch was deemed unsafe following a last minute inspection by French referee Jerome Garces.
Having had their original flight cancelled when snow forced the closure of Dublin airport yesterday afternoon (Thursday), the squad were left stranded in Heathrow overnight.
Having had their match week preparations hampered by snow at their South West London training base, they finally arrived in Dublin, via Belfast, over 24 hours late and just six hours before kick off.
But despite conditions looking promising mid-afternoon, as kick off approached the temperature plummeted and referee Garces was left with no option but to abandon the match just minutes from kick off.
The decision was met with disappointment from the players, who had been keen to use the match against a tough and experienced Irish line up to prove themselves to England Team Manager Martin Johnson ahead of the start of the RBS 6 Nations tomorrow.
But Head Coach Stuart Lancaster was left in no doubt that the referee made the right call. "At the end of the day I have a duty of care for these players.
"I came down to the ground earlier in the afternoon and saw the work that everyone here put into clearing the snow from the pitch.
