Spring may feel like it has come early to the hedgehog and the daffodil, but in High Wycombe yesterday a cold snap led to the match between London Wasps and Sale Sharks being called off because parts of the Adams Park pitch were frozen.

Considering the ground has undersoil heating and Wasps have played in snow before, the 7,000 supporters, who were informed ten minutes before the scheduled 5.15pm kick-off, had every right to feel it was a joke.

Quite how the pitch froze given the temperatures of the past two days is a mystery. The Met Office said that readings from their station at the nearby RAF High Wycombe showed temperatures of “9 to 13 degrees for most of the day”, a spokesman said. “It was just below freezing this morning.” Adams Park is in a dip so could have been exposed to what is known as a “cold sink effect”. Had it been played in Sale, the game probably could have gone ahead, given the highest temperature of the day – 15.5C (60F) – was recorded in Manchester, but the South, including High Wycombe, was not far behind.

Wasps, angry anyway at the rescheduling of this fixture on a Six Nations weekend, felt they were victims of an attempt to accommodate England’s game in Rome. The kick-off at Adams Park had been set at 5.15pm to allow spectators to watch the international.

Wasps said that the problem area was from the centre towards the Frank Adams stand. Given concerns over health and safety and liability, David Pearson, the referee, had little choice but to call the game off. Sale said they would make no official complaint. “The ground was hardening up on the far side, but two hours before, it was playable,” Ian McGeechan, the Wasps director of rugby, said.

Tony Copsey, the Wasps chief executive, said the ground did not have undersoil heating. “I’m pretty sure it does,” McGeechan said, “but it wouldn’t have come on because the problem was only two hours before kick-off. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but it’s been 13-14 degrees, it’s been like spring. It [the undersoil heating] takes 12 hours to come on. The whole situation is unfortunate.”

Wasps will have to bear the cost of the postponement and, according to Copsey, will lose “a considerable sum”.

Saracens see of Worcester Warriors

Entertainment was at a premium at Vicarage Road, Watford, with Saracens and Worcester Warriors dependent on big packs and thumping defences (Mark Baldwin writes). Saracens were worthy of their 19-6 win and four valuable points, but Worcester Warriors will be disappointed at failing to get anything going. That they came close to a bonus point in the final minutes - Miles Benjamin almost squeezing in at the left corner and a tap-penalty move bringing them to within metres of the line - was mainly owing to an off-key Glen Jackson missing four of eight penalty kicks.