Artifiscial pitch.

errlloyd

Watching sarries v exeter, on the new pitch in barnet, and i am completely sold on it. Scrums are great, none have gone down. Side stepping seems easier. Everyone is clean which is nice. It is very easy to over kick.

yimrsg

I'm more impressed with Saracen's claim that they've the largest bar in rugby.

P_1

Just turned it on there, haven't seen any scrums yet but the pitch looks bloody impressive.

CatFromHue

I'd like to see what it's like when it's wet.

I know a few of artificial pitches I've played, granted these wouldn't be of the same standard of the Sarries pitch, once they were wet the ball would just fly along the surface.

Hagz

Jesus, Saracens allowance of fans on the pitch is not helping Sky at the moment. The commentators are swamped currently.

phog

Only saw a few minutes of the the game but Sky mentioned they had the "hover" can, I suppose they'd use it at scrums, lineouts, rucks and try time, anyone see? What did you think if it, gimmick or adds to view for the fan.

[Jackass]

I didn't see this particular game, but I think they use it in Stade de France quit a bit and used to in the Millennium Stadium too (seemed to have stopped), but I quite like it, I think it adds to the experience if you're at home, but get a view from the pitch almost.

Spudmonkey

Was watching it as well. Was well impressed have to say.

thomond2006

Could well be the future, look at the state of Stade de France last weekend.

Big Nelly

What is a Artifiscial pitch????:p

A2LUE42

One of the skills in rugby is adapting to different pitches and conditions. Having played and trained on the 3G surfaces, It is nothing like playing on a wet pitch. It was great for backs moves, but the increased speeds on it may lead to more injuries from the bigger impact hits.

[Jackass]

A2LUE42 wrote: »

One of the skills in rugby is adapting to different pitches and conditions. Having played and trained on the 3G surfaces, It is nothing like playing on a wet pitch. It was great for backs moves, but the increased speeds on it may lead to more injuries from the bigger impact hits.

This is my problem with it, I've played on Astro Turf training pitches before and you get a lot more ankle rolls and knee jerks on them imo. No give in the ground can be lethal when it's lined with concrete underneath instead of a lump of turf coming up!! I personally sprained my ankle on one, but then, I was Mr. Glass when it came to leg injuries.

JustinDee

A2LUE42 wrote: »

One of the skills in rugby is adapting to different pitches and conditions. Having played and trained on the 3G surfaces, It is nothing like playing on a wet pitch.

The difference between 3G (surface you would have experienced) and the surfaces being trialled or introduced (4G) is notable.
There are no 4G pitches in Ireland.

kensutz

JustinDee wrote: »

The difference between 3G (surface you would have experienced) and the surfaces being trialled or introduced (4G) is notable.
There are no 4G pitches in Ireland.

There's a 4G pitch in Carriganore, Waterford that's used by GAA and football teams. It was a €250,000 investment with shock absorbers underneath. Works really well and unfortunately they didn't line it out for use with rugby as I would have liked to see how it would fare out. Having played both football and GAA on it I found it to be excellent with a lot of give if you take a tumble on it.

JustinDee

kensutz wrote: »

There's a 4G pitch in Carriganore, Waterford that's used by GAA and football teams. It was a €250,000 investment with shock absorbers underneath. Works really well and unfortunately they didn't line it out for use with rugby as I would have liked to see how it would fare out. Having played both football and GAA on it I found it to be excellent with a lot of give if you take a tumble on it.

Was pretty sure that was a 3G facility. If not then gladly standing corrected.

seanm92

[Jackass] wrote: »

This is my problem with it, I've played on Astro Turf training pitches before and you get a lot more ankle rolls and knee jerks on them imo. No give in the ground can be lethal when it's lined with concrete underneath instead of a lump of turf coming up!! I personally sprained my ankle on one, but then, I was Mr. Glass when it came to leg injuries.

The saracens pitch doesnt have concrete underneath it though, theres a rubber shock pad, so there is about the same amount of give as you would have on a regular pitch

errlloyd

Big Nelly wrote: »

What is a Artifiscial pitch????:p

The result of an annoying auto correct on my phone. Not quite sure what it thought I was trying to say.

The Hover Cam for whoever asked was a bit of a let down, it didn't go anywhere near the game, presumably there is a risk it'll get smashed with a kick or something. It is a fairly hefty piece of kick. (Diameter of 8ft maybe?).

In the LV Cup game v Cardiff there were 18 scrums and only 1 reset. Today I saw no resets, but missed most of the second half. It does seem to allow the defending team to just "dig in" effectively acting as a leveller.

CGD

JustinDee wrote: »

Was pretty sure that was a 3G facility. If not then gladly standing corrected.

If it was €250k or a full size GAA pitch no way it is 4G

.ak

I don't know, maybe it was just me, but it was a terrible game and a lot of that had to do with the fact the players seemed to move about a bit gingerly or something. Personally I'd hate to see these pitches becoming the norm. The state of a natural pitch always adds a wildcard effect to rugby. The best teams can adapt to the conditions.

chippers

I play on an artificial pitch week in week out and the skin on my knees and elbows are in bits. My skin is so fine at this stage that it just takes one rub off the surface and it tears. I doubt the pitch I play on is the same quality as the Saracens one but it is decent quality. I've had a dodgy ankle for years but I haven't found the artificial surface to be any way worse on it than the grass. Actually it's nice to have a perfectly flat surface and not any lumps or divets on the pitch. All that being said we had an away game yesterday and it was on grass and it was lovely to play on!

lologram

.ak wrote: »

I don't know, maybe it was just me, but it was a terrible game and a lot of that had to do with the fact the players seemed to move about a bit gingerly or something. Personally I'd hate to see these pitches becoming the norm. The state of a natural pitch always adds a wildcard effect to rugby. The best teams can adapt to the conditions.

This has traditionally been true but I'm not sure that we should want to keep this pitch wildcard effect into the future. In my opinion, at least a small part of the reason that NH teams often look worse than their SH counterparts, whether national or provincial/club, is that we tend to play on sodden pitches in bad weather for much of the year. Very rarely are the pitches truly conducive to running rugby. I know that winter in NZ can give the same weather but generally speaking the SH likely has the better conditions. We can't change the fact that it might rain lots here, but if the pitches could keep up to a high quality all year round I think it might really benefit how the NH teams play.

I know it's hard to make a really proper comparison between the hemispheres (because of the impacts of referees, coaching style, history etc) but I'd definitely be willing to throw away this traditional wildcard of the pitch in favour of artificial pitches if they meant a better chance of quality rugby.

JustinDee

chippers wrote: »

I play on an artificial pitch week in week out and the skin on my knees and elbows are in bits. My skin is so fine at this stage that it just takes one rub off the surface and it tears. I doubt the pitch I play on is the same quality as the Saracens one but it is decent quality. I've had a dodgy ankle for years but I haven't found the artificial surface to be any way worse on it than the grass. Actually it's nice to have a perfectly flat surface and not any lumps or divets on the pitch. All that being said we had an away game yesterday and it was on grass and it was lovely to play on!

As pointed out earlier, there is a big difference between the 3G and the 4G surface, so there are only an extremely small number in the country who would have experienced the ultimate quality of the likes of Saracens pitch.

case885

Theres a video on youtube of Saracens training on it, you wouldnt tell the difference only for it being so green and nothing tore up. Big improvement on the old astro turf pitches we have a small one for training not good tackling on it you skin all your legs :mad:

kensutz

JustinDee wrote: »

Was pretty sure that was a 3G facility. If not then gladly standing corrected.

Was just talking to the guys out there and it's 4G. It's really good and the shock absorbers underneath makes a massive difference for people who play out there regularly.

chippers

JustinDee wrote: »

As pointed out earlier, there is a big difference between the 3G and the 4G surface, so there are only an extremely small number in the country who would have experienced the ultimate quality of the likes of Saracens pitch.

I don't play in Ireland and honestly don't know if it's 3g or 4g. It is rugby specific and built in the last couple of years but f 4g are only being trialled now then I would presume it's 3g I play on. What are the big differences? The difference you mention is shock absorbers. I don't see how that would effect skin burns for example?

P_1

errlloyd wrote: »

The result of an annoying auto correct on my phone. Not quite sure what it thought I was trying to say.

The Hover Cam for whoever asked was a bit of a let down, it didn't go anywhere near the game, presumably there is a risk it'll get smashed with a kick or something. It is a fairly hefty piece of kick. (Diameter of 8ft maybe?).

In the LV Cup game v Cardiff there were 18 scrums and only 1 reset. Today I saw no resets, but missed most of the second half. It does seem to allow the defending team to just "dig in" effectively acting as a leveller.

I wonder if the stands or the supports for it are too low to make the Hover Cam not interfere with the general play. I think the ones in Twickers and the Millennium are suspended from the top of the stands (as are the ones they use in the NFL).

JustinDee

chippers wrote: »

I don't play in Ireland and honestly don't know if it's 3g or 4g. It is rugby specific and built in the last couple of years but f 4g are only being trialled now then I would presume it's 3g I play on. What are the big differences? The difference you mention is shock absorbers. I don't see how that would effect skin burns for example?

Texture of the synthetic grass is better on a 4G surface as well as the give.
It's amazing.