Saracens and Toulouse players observe a minute's silence© OLLY GREENWOOD/AFP/Getty Images

The European Champions Cup match between Toulon and Bath "cannot happen", according to the Premiership club's chairman.

The game was scheduled to take place on Sunday, but was one of five matches postponed as a result of Friday's terrorist attacks in Paris.

But Bath chairman Bruce Craig, who is also on the board of officials tasked with rescheduling the matches, said "there are simply no free weekends between now and the end of the season", due to fixture congestion caused by the World Cup, which saw the domestic season delayed by a month, and England's tour of Australia next year.

Talking to The Telegraph, Craig added: "It is unacceptable that the international calendar does not take into account the domestic game.

"We are playing matches right through the 2016 Six Nations championship to get everything fitted in. There are 33 weekends all accounted for and no slack.

"The midweek option is not an option to my mind as that would [be] to the detriment of player welfare as well as the integrity of two competitions.

"There is no way we should be letting that happen. You can't play three high-profile games in a week. It is very clear to me that the Toulon match cannot happen."

And while Craig said it was "not a serious matter" in the wider context of what happened in the French capital on Friday, the decision to postpone matches in France had a "significant consequence" from a rugby standpoint, as does next year's proposed tour.

"Why England are going off on a tour to Australia at the end of a World Cup season I don't know," he added. "What is the point? The players will be knackered.

"They are like lambs to the slaughter. They are just being destroyed. Have a tour before a World Cup but not after one."

Despite Craig's concerns, new dates for the postponed games will be announced this week.