Heavy rains in recent days in the flood-hit city of Genoa have forced the cancellation of Saturday's rugby Test between Italy and Argentina, officials said Thursday.
"The ITA v ARG test match won't be played on Saturday due to meteo alert in Genoa," said a short statement on the Twitter feed of the Italian rugby federation (FIR).
Officials said they were now studying the possibility of moving the match to "Friday at 5pm (1600 GMT)".
The statement did not say if the match would be moved from the initial venue of the Luigi Ferraris stadium in Genoa.
The death toll from the latest wave of storms to batter northern Italy rose to five on Thursday as floods and landslides continued to wreak havoc across the region.
Genoa suffered particularly badly during heavy floods last month when millions of euros' worth of damages were caused and people were forced from their homes.
The floods also badly affected the pitch at the Luigi Ferraris stadium, which is usually shared by Serie A sides Genoa and Sampdoria.
Italy began their November Test series with a morale-boosting 24-13 win over Samoa in Ascoli last week.
But after moving on to Genoa at the start of the week, the Azzurri were forced to train indoors due to poor conditions outside.
The game against Argentina was to be the Italians' second in the three-Test November series, ahead of meeting South Africa in Padua next weekend.
Source: AFP