Although the weather again had a huge effect on the junior programme, the two big derbies went ahead and were won by the promotion chasers.

No less than 10 sides were left kicking their heels on Saturday, but the frost could not halt Coalville's march at the top of Midlands Two (North), while Hinckley kept themselves in contention in National Three Midlands.

Coalville enjoyed a crucial 22-11 win at Loughborough, and Hinckley edged out South Leicester 13-3 at a boggy Welford Road to avenge a defeat earlier in the season.

Coalville's tries came from Dave Mayne, Ben Argyle and Tom Rice, while Mayne slotted two conversions and Pablo Addison kicked a penalty. Aaron Brown scored for Loughborough and Josh Smith kicked two penalties.

Coalville spokesman Mick Richmond said: "It was a bruising game as you'd expect from a derby and it was a good win.

"They normally have the voodoo sign on us but that's a double this season and an important one.

"Our forwards are playing really well for such a young pack. They are coming of age."

Coalville remain level on points at the top with Market Rasen and Louth, who beat Belgrave 37-0. Coach Jim Regan put it down to a "bad day at the office."

South Leicester started strongly at home to Hinckley and Mark Lord slotted an early penalty.

However, Hinckley responded with a try from hooker Sam Massarella with Joe Glover adding the conversion. The youngster then kicked a difficult penalty to give Hinckley a 10-3 half time lead.

South put Hinckley under pressure after the break but the visitors' back row began to win the battle in the mud and Glover kicked another penalty.

South turned down two kickable penalties late on to go for tries but failed to score and were then left to rue missing out on a bonus point.

In Midlands One, Syston beat Paviors 43-0 to cement second place.

Chris Page (2), Warren Coles (2), Brendan Coles, Adam Davey and Luke Coltman all scored tries and eight points came from the boot of Ian Smith.

Head coach Chris Tarbuck said: "It was a great win. This is our eighth game out of 19 that we have not had a point against."

Market Bosworth suffered another setback. They lost 78-0 at Leighton Buzzard and remain rooted to the foot of the table.

Elsewhere, Ashby took over the leadership of Midlands Three (North) after a comfortable 32-0 win at Melbourne.

All other games were postponed. Just as it looked as though the clubs had seen the worst of the weather, it again wreaked havoc.

With many sides already facing a fixture backlog due to the December-January hiatus, they could have done without losing yet another game because of frosty conditions.

No clubs played in Midlands Two (South) as Lutterworth and Leicester Forest lost their derby and Market Harborough, Vipers, Old Newtonians and Aylestone St James all had call-offs. Melton, Oakham, Oadby Wyggs and Stoneygate also saw their games postponed.

It is frustrating but the schedulers will be working hard to slot all the fixtures in between now and the end of the season.

Leicester Forest player-coach Karl Wesley was disappointed not to have a game at the weekend, but his side face South Leicester in the County Cup tomorrow night. Wesley knows the game will be a "big test" but says his side are looking forward to the challenge.