http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pVzh1g4ki4
Are we about to see lots of rugby pitches ditch the pitch and go plastic? English club Saracens think so, and have installed an artificial surface.
As they work on getting their ground redeveloped, English Premiership side Saracens also took the decision to install an artificial pitch.
Costing £500,000, it is expected to last for eight years and all the maintenance it requires is a brush twice a week. While the club admit there may be some concerns over increased injury to ankles, they believe it to be a smart, and cost-saving, move in the long term.
In the above BBC news report the Saracens players seem happy with it but we won’t see it in action until mid-February when the work on the ground is complete.
We know that the Welsh Rugby Union have been pondering changing the Millennium Stadium surface from grass after years of problems with the turf. If the Saracens experiment works, we fully expect them to follow suit. After that it may well be that like in the NFL, artificial pitches become the norm.
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