The five-star Nations Cup at Lummen, Belgium, due to take place on Friday, has been cancelled.

It is believed that torrential rain and flash flooding have forced the show organisers to cancel the competition, in which Robert Splaine’s squad of Bertram Allen (Molly Malone V), Cian O’Connor (Good Luck), Denis Lynch (All Star 5), Anthony Condon (Aristio) and Cameron Hanley (Cas) were due to jump.

The show was to be the venue for Ireland’s first points-scoring leg of the Furusiyya Nations Cup series of 2016.

The show organisers have yet to make an official statement but the signs were ominous on Tuesday when all classes in the CSI one-star show were cancelled due to rain and snow and this morning (Wednesday), two-star classes were also cancelled.

However at that time the organisers had a crew working around the clock to try to maintain the arenas in good condition for the five-star show.

It is believed that in the event of a Nations Cup being cancelled, the FEI would distribute points to the teams who had chosen the cancelled venue (Lummen) as a points-scoring venue, based on their total number of points obtained at other chosen points-scoring venues, at the end of the series.

Cian O'Connor commented: "Wise decision- the rain has been torrential here in Belgium and the horses must come first. There is always another day."

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