Longest cold snap for three decades rips through weekend rugby fixtures
Jan 8 2010 by Brian Dick, Birmingham Mail
THE longest cold snap for three decades has finally stopped snipping away at the edges of the rugby fixture list and torn right through this weekend’s.
Championship rivals Moseley and Bees and National One outfit Stourbridge have all had their matches postponed, indeed the whole schedule has been laid to waste by the snow.
Moseley were due to host Bristol in a game that would have been one of their biggest gates of the campaign.
But their Billesley Common pitch still has snow on it and is frozen underneath forcing officials to call the match off at 4pm yesterday.
Stour were due to go to Cambridge but are without a match for the third time in consecutive weeks.
And Bees also lost their third game when Exeter’s Sandy Park pitch was deemed unplayable.
Mose will now have to meet the league leaders in a midweek encounter but are in the relatively luxurious position of having only one game to make up.
Bees have three and a pressing deadline by which time they must have worked through that backlog before the relegation play-offs start on March 13.
And that has prompted player-coach Russell Earnshaw to express his concerns about how his struggling squad is going to cope with playing 11 matches in eight weeks.
“Our trip to Rotherham has been pencilled in for January 20 and Exeter will be as soon as possible after that, maybe on a Friday night. That leaves us with Nottingham to play and we’ll have to fit that in somewhere.”
Earnshaw revealed he would consider playing his team’s league and British & Irish Cup match with Doncaster as a double-header.
“If the organisers allow that, it is an option we would look at,” he said.
“But I don’t know what the financial implications are, it’d be something I would have to put to our board before we do anything.
“Whatever happens it needs looking at because there are potential player welfare issues.”
Incredibly Bees are not the worst-off side in the Championship. Nottingham are four games behind following Sunday’s visit from Coventry being called off.
Stourbridge have one free weekend – when they will play Tynedale – but must still find a time to meet Cambridge and Sedgley Park.
