Mr Green said it was the Highlanders' decision, forced on the franchise because there were no lights at the Events Centre at Frankton to allow the match to be played at night.
"It is not acceptable that the blame for not having [the] game goes anywhere else other than on facilities."
Mr Green said the Highlanders had been negotiating with the Queenstown Events Centre and the Easter fixture might not have been played there, even if it had been an afternoon match.
"We were negotiating to reduce our costs, as although it would be exciting to go to Queenstown and play - as we have for the last two years - holding a game up there is [a] lot more expensive than a game in Dunedin or Invercargill."
Next season, the Highlanders were scheduled to have one of two evening matches in New Zealand at Easter, due to two other New Zealand teams having a scheduled bye and another being overseas, he said.
That had not happened previously, so there had been no issues with holding an afternoon game in the resort.
