Pitch

The pitch at the MS is a disgrace.. My lawn at home is better than that

Surely the WRU has too look at modifying the stadium to let more light on to it?.and perhaps not closing the roof during matches. How much money are they spending resurfacing it time and again and blasting it with uv? It's not working and it's causing so many injuries.

My lawn is better than that and I don't have a lawn.

The scrums definitely suffered from the pitch and with the Welsh scrum so powerful, Wales are shooting themselves in the foot taking out one of their strengths. You have home advantage to suit your game not detract from it.

Just have a butcher's at stade de france pitch later on. It doesnt look very good already!

That's another problematic ground in Europe. Doesn't sound good whocares... for NZ!

posted this on the match thread...Wales need to go shopping for turf...

Since 2010 why is Wales the only side to have a better away win record than at home- 52% loss away vs 54.5% loss at home? NZ, Aus, SA, Ire, Italy, Eng and France are those I checked- all have a lower home loss %.

I say thats compelling given Wales are 2 time winning 6N holders in that period.

You were right whocares. It's a disgrace. Feel sorry for the crowd who are putting on a fantastic performance but have to put up with a ground that carves up when it's touched.

Interesting all the play was made in the first 20 or so minutes...then deteriorated from there..

The Aviva stadium pitch was two tone the other week for a footbal game thought my colour had gone on the tv lol.

Murrayfield looked pretty shoddy today as well. Was cutting up just from players running on it as well as scrums.

Apparently there was some kind of bug that's attacking the turf?

alexgmacdonald wrote:Murrayfield looked pretty shoddy today as well. Was cutting up just from players running on it as well as scrums.

Apparently there was some kind of bug that's attacking the turf?

Nemotope worm things attacking the roots so their spraying garlic on it to kill them.

That sounds pretty serious. The pitch was in bad knick shortly after kickoff

They need to get it sorted out prior to 2015. Shocking to think a RWC knock out match might be played on quick sand!

Ireland, Italy and England have had good pitches. Murrayfield is usually good so they can be forgiven with this bug but this is not the first time for Stade de France and MS and they need to own up to the fact that this is not acceptable and find a remedy fast.

A lot of rain fell in Paris and sand seemed to be used to assist with drainage. The problem is that when you put too much sand on, the turf doesn't bind and then the surface gets easily cut up. They need to work out better drainage and in winter cope with freezing conditions better.

The ms suffers from having little sunlight hitting the grass due to the vertical nature of the stands and the restricted roof. The pitch almost certainly dies as soon as it's laid down.

fa0019 wrote:The ms suffers from having little sunlight hitting the grass due to the vertical nature of the stands and the restricted roof. The pitch almost certainly dies as soon as it's laid down.

I'm no grass/photosynthesis expert but isn't this something that should have been known beforehand?

The stadium has been around more than 10 years now. Is there no solution? Different grass grades that require less sunlight etc? Some kind of artificial light? I'm sure they're doing their best but it's a shame when one of the best stadia in the world is let down by the bit that really matters.

When I went to the MS (for the Jenkins/Leonard testimonial) I was right up near the top. Very vertical and very bad for my vertigo  

Cyril wrote:

fa0019 wrote:The ms suffers from having little sunlight hitting the grass due to the vertical nature of the stands and the restricted roof. The pitch almost certainly dies as soon as it's laid down.

I'm no grass/photosynthesis expert but isn't this something that should have been known beforehand?

The stadium has been around more than 10 years now. Is there no solution? Different grass grades that require less sunlight etc? Some kind of artificial light? I'm sure they're doing their best but it's a shame when one of the best stadia in the world is let down by the bit that really matters.

When I went to the MS (for the Jenkins/Leonard testimonial) I was right up near the top. Very vertical and very bad for my vertigo  

It's the weigh up between a closed stadium and say 10,000 more seats and an open one with more room for light. Could argue the more seats caters for the extra cost in pitch fees. MS is similar to the San Siro in Italy. Pitch survives about 2 weeks a time there.

fa0019 wrote:

Cyril wrote:

fa0019 wrote:The ms suffers from having little sunlight hitting the grass due to the vertical nature of the stands and the restricted roof. The pitch almost certainly dies as soon as it's laid down.

I'm no grass/photosynthesis expert but isn't this something that should have been known beforehand?

The stadium has been around more than 10 years now. Is there no solution? Different grass grades that require less sunlight etc? Some kind of artificial light? I'm sure they're doing their best but it's a shame when one of the best stadia in the world is let down by the bit that really matters.

When I went to the MS (for the Jenkins/Leonard testimonial) I was right up near the top. Very vertical and very bad for my vertigo  

It's the weigh up between a closed stadium and say 10,000 more seats and an open one with more room for light. Could argue the more seats caters for the extra cost in pitch fees. MS is similar to the San Siro in Italy. Pitch survives about 2 weeks a time there.

Which would be fine if each time the pitch was replaced you got some decent use out of it before it cut up.

Cyril wrote:

fa0019 wrote:

Cyril wrote:

fa0019 wrote:The ms suffers from having little sunlight hitting the grass due to the vertical nature of the stands and the restricted roof. The pitch almost certainly dies as soon as it's laid down.

I'm no grass/photosynthesis expert but isn't this something that should have been known beforehand?

The stadium has been around more than 10 years now. Is there no solution? Different grass grades that require less sunlight etc? Some kind of artificial light? I'm sure they're doing their best but it's a shame when one of the best stadia in the world is let down by the bit that really matters.

When I went to the MS (for the Jenkins/Leonard testimonial) I was right up near the top. Very vertical and very bad for my vertigo  

It's the weigh up between a closed stadium and say 10,000 more seats and an open one with more room for light. Could argue the more seats caters for the extra cost in pitch fees. MS is similar to the San Siro in Italy. Pitch survives about 2 weeks a time there.

Which would be fine if each time the pitch was replaced you got some decent use out of it before it cut up.

Shame that it's probably laid in preparation for that all important Rihanna concert.

Point is the pitches at Cardiff and Paris were not international standard the IRB need to penalise these hosts financially until they sort it out. We can't have a RWC played on substandard pitches.

If Europe can't deliver venues then perhaps the RWC should be moved to Japan for 2015.

fa0019 wrote:

Cyril wrote:

fa0019 wrote:

Cyril wrote:

fa0019 wrote:The ms suffers from having little sunlight hitting the grass due to the vertical nature of the stands and the restricted roof. The pitch almost certainly dies as soon as it's laid down.

I'm no grass/photosynthesis expert but isn't this something that should have been known beforehand?

The stadium has been around more than 10 years now. Is there no solution? Different grass grades that require less sunlight etc? Some kind of artificial light? I'm sure they're doing their best but it's a shame when one of the best stadia in the world is let down by the bit that really matters.

When I went to the MS (for the Jenkins/Leonard testimonial) I was right up near the top. Very vertical and very bad for my vertigo  

It's the weigh up between a closed stadium and say 10,000 more seats and an open one with more room for light. Could argue the more seats caters for the extra cost in pitch fees. MS is similar to the San Siro in Italy. Pitch survives about 2 weeks a time there.

Which would be fine if each time the pitch was replaced you got some decent use out of it before it cut up.

Shame that it's probably laid in preparation for that all important Rihanna concert.

Yeah, and all that twerking is going to play havoc with the turf.

fa0019 wrote:

Cyril wrote:

fa0019 wrote:The ms suffers from having little sunlight hitting the grass due to the vertical nature of the stands and the restricted roof. The pitch almost certainly dies as soon as it's laid down.

I'm no grass/photosynthesis expert but isn't this something that should have been known beforehand?

The stadium has been around more than 10 years now. Is there no solution? Different grass grades that require less sunlight etc? Some kind of artificial light? I'm sure they're doing their best but it's a shame when one of the best stadia in the world is let down by the bit that really matters.

When I went to the MS (for the Jenkins/Leonard testimonial) I was right up near the top. Very vertical and very bad for my vertigo  

It's the weigh up between a closed stadium and say 10,000 more seats and an open one with more room for light. Could argue the more seats caters for the extra cost in pitch fees. MS is similar to the San Siro in Italy. Pitch survives about 2 weeks a time there.

10,000 more seats than which stadium? Twickenham has 10,000 more seats than the Millennium and has a superb pitch. The reason the pitch is poor is due it being not being a real pitch with topsoil based on subsoil but just some turf on wooden pallets. Quite why anyone thought that would work is beyond me. Artificial turf would be better.

Will this make the move to an artificial pitch gather pace?

bedfordwelsh wrote:Will this make the move to an artificial pitch gather pace?

It certainly seem to work well at Allianz Park. I can see most stadiums going that way eventually if only for reasons of economics.