Farcical scenes as game is frozen off

' A' INTERNATIONAL:LAST NIGHT'S A international between Ireland and the England Saxons at Donnybrook was called off at 7.36pm, the culmination of an absolutely farcical hour-long preamble in which the French referee Jerome Garces examined the pitch three times, making it five inspections in total on the day.

The first pitch inspection was at 10am yesterday morning and then there was a further examination at 12.30pm, at which point Garces was happy the game should go ahead, contingent upon a further inspection that evening.

The official walked the pitch again at 6.15pm and was still reluctant to make a decision, postponing a definitive judgement until 7pm.

Spectators were advised to wait outside the stadium until it was confirmed the match would take place.

At 7.10pm, Garces indicated the game would go ahead and the two teams completed their respective warm-ups. Both team managements had initially indicated to the French official they were happy for the game to go ahead. The Saxons, though, would have a change of heart.

Supporters, about 1,500, filed into the ground to take up their vantage points but one minute after the match was scheduled to start, unofficial confirmation came through that the match would not go ahead on the basis that player safety could not be guaranteed in the freezing conditions.

England, through their captain George Skivington, expressed dissatisfaction with the condition of the pitch and Garces then elected to call off the match.

Ireland coach Michael Bradley confirmed: “We wanted to play.” However, his wish went unfulfilled.

The French official had earlier indicated his concern that the stand side of the ground was rock hard and as the ground staff, who had worked feverishly all day to clear the snow from the pitch, tried to pole-fork the area it was clear just how hard the surface was and it wasn’t going to get better. The only criticism was this decision took so long to arrive at, given that it doesn’t get any warmer as the night goes on.

The official announcement came at 7.40pm when spectators were informed the match had been cancelled and that anyone who had paid in would be entitled to a refund. It marked the conclusion to an eventful 24 hours for the Saxons squad.

They had originally tried to fly to Dublin on the Thursday but the airport was closed and so they chose to fly into Belfast City airport yesterday morning only to find that, too, was closed. Diverted to Belfast International airport to refuel, they eventually arrived in Dublin only to discover their elongated journey had been in vain.

Ireland A are due to take on Scotland A at the same venue next Friday.

England Saxons coach Stuart Lancaster said that when they arrived at 3.30pm the pitch was just about playable, but when they came back at 6.30pm they had misgivings about the game going ahead. “It just got too dangerous and you have to think of player safety.”