David Ashdown's Sports Picture Diary: London Irish v Newcastle

When does a football match almost become a horse race and end up being a rugby match? Answer: When you have a frozen pitch.

The plan for Saturday was to go to the third round FA Cup match at Histon in Cambridgeshire - they should have been playing Swansea. The idea being a nice atmospheric picture of a non-league team playing a league team at a ramshackle ground. But things did not go to plan.

Friday night was very cold, about -5 degrees centigrade so I checked the BBC website a few times on Saturday morning to see if the match had been called off but it was still on when I set off at 11.30. The Independent on Sunday sports desk phoned me at about 12.10 to say it was off when I had almost got to the the Dartford Bridge. Can you get to the Chelsea match instead they said, but I knew there was not a chance of getting in as you have to apply a few days before.

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Now I don't live very far from Lingfield Race course, and they have an all weather track so I knew there would be racing there. I tried to convince the sports editor it was a good idea to have a picture from there, only race meeting on etc. And nothing to do with living close to it of course! But he was not even a little bit interested.

Can you get to Reading for the rugby - London Irish v Newcastle! Now rugby, unlike football, are very accommodating to a call from Paddy the press man and I have a pass for the game.

The longest lens I had with me was a 300mm F2.8. Normally I would have taken my 500mm for rugby but fortunately I also had a 1.4 tele-converter as well, making the 300mm a 420mm. The tele-converted reduces the light a bit so making the lens an F4.0.

This picture of Seilala Mapusua was taken on a Nikon D3 at 1/500 second with the 420mm lens. He dives through the posts, and it's always satisfying getting a player flying through the air - the classic try image.

The FA Cup third round is a special day in the sporting year so it was a shame to miss it, it would also have been nice to go to the racing close to where one lives. But if one's not happening and the other is not wanted, then rugby it had to be - thank goodness for heated pitches.