England are unhappy with the decision to switch the Six Nations game against Ireland to early May and will continue to press for their preferred date of later in the month.
"We understand the desire of the Six Nations Committee to agree dates as soon as possible but given the increasing uncertainty surrounding the foot-and-mouth problem we strongly believe that the games should be rescheduled to the end of May," Rugby Football Union chief executive Francis Baron said in a statement.
"We believe that it is essential that a sufficient period of time is allowed for this problem to be contained. Based on the current information available from MAFF [Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food] we believe it is unlikely that the fixture could be played as early as May 5th. In these circumstances it would be wrong for us to rearrange the play-offs.
"Our Six Nations representatives will continue to press for our suggested end-of-May dates. Because of the uncertainty over the foot-and-mouth position the RFU advises all England supporters not to make travel arrangements until the new date has been confirmed as acceptable by the Irish government. "
The Six Nations committee announced earlier today that Ireland would play Wales on April 29th, England on May 5th and Scotland on May 12th.
Those early May dates clash with the new end-of-season Premiership play-offs and yesterday England suggested a date of May 19th for their game against Ireland, possibly in Paris, with the European Cup final being moved from that date to May 27th.
But the Six Nations Committee ignored that suggestion and their new dates once again look likely to cause a club versus country row, with club owners threatening not to release players for international duty.
The Irish Government has said it will not allow the games against British sides to go ahead until 30 days after the last case of foot and mouth in Britain.