Shaun Edwards today revealed he was prepared to forfeit London Wasps' match with Bath if the referee had deemed the frozen Recreation Ground pitch playable.

Edwards's amazing admission goes some way to silencing the claims of Steve Meehan, the Bath coach, who made it clear he believed Wasps were angling for a postponement from early on Saturday with the decision eventually coming around 1.15pm.

Wasps head coach Edwards said: "I had the full backing of our chairman Steve Hayes and Ian McGeechan, the director of rugby, to forfeit the game if the officials decided it could go ahead.

"Clearly, the pitch was not fit for rugby and the safety of my players is my only consideration.

"There are more important things to consider than a rugby game and we are talking about players' careers. My father was crippled by an injury while playing rugby for Warrington.

"I know for a fact that some of the Bath players didn't want to play on that pitch and if Steve Meehan is happy to risk his players to win a game of rugby in a bid to clinch a first piece of silverware then that's his decision.

"I don't care about people saying there isn't any love lost between the two clubs - that's irrelevant. I was only interested in protecting my players."

Meehan could not hide his frustration given that Wasps were without the injured England quartet of Tom Rees, Simon Shaw, Tom Palmer and Joe Worsley.

The expected rearranged date is 31 January when neither club will be able to pick those England players called up for the Six Nations which starts the following week.

Meehan said: "They [Wasps] were down here from nine o'clock telling anyone they could that it wasn't good to go. We don't like not playing.

"We are not a side that comes in and calls games off."

England name their Six Nations squad on Wednesday and Saracens director of rugby Eddie Jones believes that his fly-half Glen Jackson should be selected.

The 33-year-old, who was born in New Zealand but is now qualified for England, is the first player in the Guinness Premiership to top 150 points this season.

His 15 points in the 37-13 win over Bristol yesterday means he now has 158 for the campaign and although England team manager Martin Johnson is looking to more youthful options in the shape of Danny Cipriani, Toby Flood and Shane Geraghty, Jones believes Jackson has a good case.

Jones said: "His goalkicking was good and his out-of-hand kicking is just wonderful. England should really consider having him in the squad.

"If they are going to have Cipriani and Flood as their major stand-offs maybe they should have someone like Jackson, who understands the game exceedingly well, in the squad to teach these younger guys how to play because I think they need a mentor."

Steffon Armitage, brother of England star Delon, was impressive for London Irish during their 14-8 loss at Sale but it is understood the flanker will not make the England squad.

He will have to be content with his position in the Saxons as Leicester's Lewis Moody and Michael Lipman, of Bath, are deemed better bets given their Test experience for the Six Nations.

Toby Booth, the London Irish director of rugby, is still backing Armitage to eventually get into the England squad and said: "We have a lot of ambitious players who have been with us since their Academy days and if they are playing well they will get picked at international level and I hope he does."

Harlequins' home match with Worcester fell victim to frost, leaving them short of match practice before playing Ulster in the Heineken Cup in Belfast on Saturday.