EDINBURGH’s PRO14 match against the Dragons in Newport tomorrow (Friday) has been postponed because the Rodney Parade pitch is frozen. A new date has yet to be announced for the fixture, which had already been rescheduled from November, when the Dragons were unable to play due to positive Covid tests within their squad.
The league announced the postponement at noon today, saying: “The Round 7 Guinness PRO14 fixture between Dragons and Edinburgh has been postponed due to a frozen pitch. The game was due to take place on Friday, February 12 at Rodney Parade. However, a large area of the pitch is currently frozen and temperatures will not rise above freezing in time for the pitch to be playable.
“Taking into account player safety and travel arrangements, PRO14 Rugby, along with both clubs, has taken the decision to postpone the game. PRO14 Rugby will identify a rescheduled date as soon as possible.”
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Edinburgh coach Richard Cockerill added: “It’s disappointing for everyone involved not to have the game go ahead, however the freezing conditions are such that it simply wouldn’t be safe to do so. In the absence of the game we’ll quickly turn our attention to preparing to face Munster at home next Saturday and await details of the rescheduled fixture date for Dragons, in due course.”
Edinburgh had already selected their team before they heard of the cancellation, and with 13 players unavailable on international duty and another nine out injured, it was of necessity a much-changed one. Magnus Bradbury was chosen to start at lock, while Damien Hoyland was due to make his first competitive appearance since being injured in October.
The starting 15 in full would have been: Hoyland, Jack Blain, Mark Bennett, Chris Dean, Eroni Sau, Nathan Chamberlain, Henry Pyrgos, Pierre Schoeman, Mike Willemse, Lee-Roy Atalifo, Bradbury, Andrew Davidson, Nick Haining, Luke Crosbie and Bill Mata. The bench included three players in line to make their debuts – Sam Kitchen, Charlie Savala and Matt Currie – along with Sam Grahamslaw, Murray McCallum, Andries Ferreira, Ally Miller and Nic Groom.
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