Kiwi coach Pat Lam said the snow conditions his English side played in on the weekend were "ridiculous" and could have put player health and safety at risk.
Lam is head coach of English Championship second tier leaders Bristol, who beat the Rotherham Titans 24-3 on a snowy Yorkshire pitch last Saturday (Sunday NZ time).
There were blizzards in Yorkshire which were so bad at one point the home team, Titans, reportedly lost their bearings on the field and drove a maul clean over the try line and off the pitch as neither side could see in the swirling snow.
Lam told the Bristol Post after the game, with the snow still falling around him: "I am very proud of the guys because rugby shouldn't be played in those sort of conditions.
"And they boys guts'ed it out. It was only 6-0 at half time but there was times there you couldn't even see from the side of the field.
"But they grafted it out, put their heads down and got a very good win.
Asked if Lam was concerned with having just a slender 6-0 lead at half time he said: "I was more concerned with the health and safety of the guys because it was just ridiculous, you couldn't see the markings, you couldn't see the ball, guys were saying you couldn't see who was cleaning out.
Lam said at half time he spoke to the referee about calling an end to the game at half time at an increasingly snowy Castle Lane but referee Tim Wigglesworth said in his view "he felt it was it was safe enough."
Bristol Rugby's veteran skipper on the day Jordan Crane wrote on Twitter: "Possibly the worst conditions I have ever played in. But fair play to all the boys for digging out the result and the fans that made the trip."