The entire AIB All-Ireland League schedule, the Magners League clashes featuring Ulster and Connacht and the club rugby programmes in Leinster and Ulster have been cancelled this weekend.
Ulster's Friday night Magners League clash with the Ospreys has been postponed due to a frozen pitch at Ravenhill while Connacht’s scheduled Friday night clash with the Dragons was called off yesterday with the condition of the pitch at the Sportsground and the potential for difficulties with travel from Wales both playing a part in the decision.
Leinster’s RDS Friday night clash with the Glasgow Warriors and Munster’s match against the Llanelli Scarlets at Musgrave Park on Sunday are expected to take place.
Munster Rugby this afternoon announced that it was preparing a 'contingency plan' for the fixture due to the adverse weather conditions and the game could be switched from Cork to Thomond Park in Limerick.
The IRFU announced that, 'due to the current prevailing weather conditions throughout the country and the poor forecast for the coming days, the IRFU has taken the decision to cancel all games in the AIB League scheduled to take place this weekend, January 9th/10th in the interests of player and spectator safety.
'Further games that have been cancelled include the women's interprovincial finals that were scheduled to be played in Naas this weekend also.
'The scheduled games will be refixed for an alternate date and the new dates will be announced next week.'
All domestic rugby matches in Leinster and Ulster have also been cancelled for this weekend.
The Leinster Branch announced the decision to cancel club games this morning, saying it had decided to cancel fixtures because the current cold snap has ‘left the vast majority of pitches frozen and made travel to and from venues dangerous’.
A statement added: ‘This applies to all adult, women's and youth's games’.
Fixtures in Leinster will resume from Monday, 11 January.
The Ulster Branch soon followed suit, confirming that all domestic rugby fixtures including club and schools matches due to take place up until Sunday, 10 January were off.
A statement said: 'The rescheduled dates for these postponed matches will be announced once the current period of bad weather has ended.'
