Six Nations: We must stay focused - Dawson

England are determined that the decision to postpone Ireland’s remaining Six Nations matches until the start of the new domestic season in September will not take the shine off their barnstorming season.

Northampton scrum-half Matt Dawson insisted that rugby chiefs had bowed to the inevitable, but that the Six Nations Committee’s announcement last night would not spoil England’s possible grand slam.

‘‘Superficially it might take the gloss off what England could achieve, but whatever the squad goes through we look to learn from it and come out stronger,’’ said England’s number nine.

‘‘We must first concentrate on our match against France, move on over the summer with the Lions tour and then meet up again with England at the beginning of next season to conclude the tournament.’’

Dawson’s England colleague and Bath back Mike Catt added: ‘‘Even though England have been playing well this season, it’s not disappointing because there are a lot of people who are in worse situations than we are as players.

‘‘Obviously it’s very unfortunate, but there’s more to life than rugby. It hasn’t been an ordinary international season.

‘‘It’s a shame for some of the other players, especially those players from Ireland who were on the verge of getting into the Lions squad. Now they won’t get the same opportunity to prove what they are about.’’

Although the decision was unavoidable given the failure to stem the foot and mouth outbreak it draws a temporary halt to what could have been an intriguing championship.

Having won their opening two matches, Ireland were quietly confident of ending England’s reign and are bitterly disappointed themselves at the postponement of their clash with Clive Woodward’s men, which had originally been set for March 24 and has now been put back again from its revised date of May 5.

‘‘The Irish Rugby Football Union share in the decision that has been made, and it is absolutely understandable given the circumstances in which it has been taken,’’ said IRFU spokesman John Redmond.

Ireland coach Warren Gatland added: ‘‘It’s a disappointment, but we’re not surprised about it. We had a meeting last week and had prepared for this decision.’’

Gatland admitted that, having opened their campaign with wins over Italy and France, the Irish will be inconvenienced by having to wait until the autumn to play again.

‘‘The whole objective of this year was to build on a pretty good Six Nations of last year,’’ he said.

‘‘We were pretty confident that we would have won the Wales game, and it would have been brilliant going into the England match with three wins under our belt.’’

English and Scottish rugby chiefs were also united in support of the Six Nations Committee’s unprecedented step of cancelling the remainder of Ireland’s fixtures after heeding the advice of government officials.

The number of cases of foot and mouth are still on the increase and following the recent ruling that stipulates no Irish sporting fixtures should take place until 30 days after the last case is recorded, Six Nations chiefs felt there was no alternative but to postpone the tournament until the new domestic season starts in September.

A statement from the Six Nations Committee said: ‘‘After reviewing the current position and the likely prognosis for the foreseeable future it has been unanimously decided that the following matches will be postponed until the commencement of next season: Wales v Ireland, Ireland v England and Scotland v Ireland.

‘‘There will now be consultation with unions and with commercial partners on possible alternative dates before firm dates are set.’’

Rugby Football Union chief executive Francis Baron agreed there was no viable alternative.

‘‘Obviously we share the disappointment of all rugby supporters following this announcement but we also fully understand and support the reasons behind it,’’ said Baron.

And the Scottish Rugby Union reinforced the decision, issuing a statement which said: ‘‘The Scottish Rugby Union understands the decision taken by the Six Nations Committee to postpone three outstanding fixtures in this season’s Lloyds TSB Six Nations Championship, including the Scotland v Ireland fixture which had been rescheduled provisionally for Saturday May 12.

‘‘Supporters are reassured that tickets they have purchased will remain valid for the rescheduled fixture.’’