Crusaders clash with Saracens in New Orleans cancelled

WELLINGTON, June 15 (Reuters) – New Zealand’s Crusaders have offered free tickets to fans who booked flights to the United States for next month’s match against English champions Saracens after the game was cancelled. The match, dubbed the “Hemisphere Cup”, was due to be played at the Superdome in New Orleans on August 1 but organiser RugbyLaw’s website said on Monday that the game had been cancelled. “This is obviously a disappointing outcome given that we had received every assurance up until now that the match would go ahead,” Crusaders chief executive Hamish Riach said in a statement. “It is not our decision to make so we have no choice but to accept this outcome and move on. “Our main concern now is for Crusaders fans here who had already booked tickets to watch the game. We urge those interested to direct any questions regarding the match cancellation to match organisers RugbyLaw. “We would also like to personally stress how disappointing this news will be to all our local fans who may have already booked flights to New Orleans. We would therefore ask any Christchurch-based fans in this situation to contact us so that we can thank them for their support by offering them a season pass for the Crusaders’ home games in 2016.” No explanation has been given for the cancellation, but a match involving English club Leicester scheduled for Philadelphia on 8 August was also cancelled last week, with RugbyLaw saying that national governing body USA Rugby had “refused to approve it”. (Reporting by Nick Mulvenney in Sydney, editing by Sudipto Ganguly)