Under-pressure Lions hit with late venue change as Rodney Parade freezes over

The Lions' mission to stay in the European Challenge Cup was hit with a fresh challenge after European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR), custodians of the tournament, announced that their crunch clash would the Dragons will require a change of venue.

Ivan van Rooyen's charges were scheduled to play at Rodney Parade on Sunday afternoon but will now make the trip to the CCB Centre for Sporting Excellence in Ystrad Mynach, which is approximately 25km away.

EPCR confirmed in a statement that the playing surface in Newport was "unsafe" after it became frozen during a chilly week.

Weather forecasts also suggested that conditions weren't going to improve, prompting the re-think.

Dragons 

15 Jordan Williams, 14 Rio Dyer, 13 Steff Hughes (captain), 12 Max Clark, 11 Ashton Hewitt, 10 Will Reed, 9 Lewis Jones, 8 Ross Moriarty, 7 Taine Basham, 6 George Nott, 5 Ben Carter, 4 Joe Davies, 3 Lloyd Fairbrother, 2 Bradley Roberts, 1 Rob Evans

Substitutes: 16 Brodie Coghlan, 17 Aki Sieuli, 18 Leon Brown, 19 Sean Lonsdale, 20 Aaron Wainwright, 21 Rhodri Williams, 22 JJ Hanrahan, 23 Jack Dixon

Lions

15 Andries Coetzee, 14 Quan Horn, 13 Henco van Wyk, 12 Marius Louw (captain), 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Jordan Hendrikse, 9 Andre Warner, 8 Emmanuel Tshituka, 7 Emile van Heerden, 6 Jaco Kriel, 5 Darrien Landsberg, 4 Willem Alberts, 3 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 2 Michael van Vuuren, 1 JP Smith

Substitutes: 16 PJ Botha, 17 Morgan Naude, 18 Ruan Smith, 19 Pieter Jansen van Vuren, 20 Ruhan Straeuli, 21 JC Pretorius, 22 Morne van den Berg, 23 Rynhardt Jonker

"Despite the best efforts of ground staff preparing for the current cold weather conditions with frost covers deployed in the week, the playing surface is currently deemed unplayable by officials," read a