London county board has praised Croke Park for deferring this weekend's scheduled Allianz Football League clash with Carlow in Dr Cullen Park by a week to Saturday, February 16.

With thousands of English rugby fans travelling to the Aviva Stadium for Sunday's Six Nations Rugby showdown with Ireland, the cash-strapped Exiles had faced the prospect of paying greatly inflated airline fares.

"It was going to cost us something crazy like £400 to £500 per person," London PRO Declan Flanagan explained to the Irish Examiner.

"So we entered negotiations with Croke Park and it was agreed to put it back by a week to Saturday, February 16. It was very much appreciated that Carlow agreed to the change and I just think common sense was used. People could see it was one of those awkward weekends to travel and the costs were enormous.

"We've found, in general, the host counties have always helped us out." Tweet

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