Met Office red warning forces Newcastle vs Worcester postponement

Friday night's four-match programme in the Gallagher Premiership has been cut to three as the scheduled Newcastle versus Worcester game at Kingston Park has been put back until Saturday night due to a red weather warning in that part of England. 

A statement from Newcastle read: "In light of the red weather warning from the Met Office, for the safety of our players, spectators and staff the decision has been made to move the Falcons vs Warriors match to Saturday. Kick-off will be at 6pm. All tickets and hospitality will be automatically transferred to Saturday."

With Kingston Park having an artificial surface, there would have been no concern regarding the state of the pitch. However, concerns over travel and spectator safety were the overriding factors that forced the postponement. 

A Worcester statement read: "Warriors fully support the decision to call off tonight’s Gallagher Premiership match against Newcastle Falcons at Kingston Park owing to severe weather conditions.

"The safety of all – spectators, staff and players – comes first in making these decisions. The Met Office issued a red warning ahead of the arrival of Storm Arwen in North-East England which warned of disruption to travel and a potential threat to life.

"In those circumstances, it would have been wrong to have asked people to undertake a potentially hazardous journey. The majority of the Warriors squad travelled to Newcastle on Thursday and trained at Blaydon RFC, but other members of the squad, including travelling reserves and staff, made the outward journey today [Friday]."

The Premiership match in England hasn't been the only game to be rescheduled this weekend as changes in the situation surrounding the pandemic in South Africa led to the postponement of all the matches involving Cardiff, Munster, Scarlets and Zebre Parma in the southern hemisphere over the next two weekends.