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Exeter Chiefs winger Jack Nowell has added his name to the growing list of players that have voiced their concern around 4G pitches in rugby, branding the experience of playing on them as ‘horrendous’.
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England prop Joe Marler stirred debate over the pitch surface this week, simply tweeting ‘Ban 4G pitches’, with many agreeing with the sentiment of the Harlequins loosehead.
Currently, a number of clubs in both the URC and the Gallagher Premiership use artificial pitch surfaces, with the likes of Saracens, Worcester Warriors, Newcastle Falcons, Glasgow Warriors and Cardiff Rugby all applying the technology. Proponents of the surfaces say that they lend themselves to a better, faster brand of rugby, while critics point to player welfare as a major concern.
Severe abrasions and knee ligament injuries have been associated with the surfaces, with professional players from clubs with grass pitches regularly taking to social media to showcase horrific-looking cuts after playing on artificial pitches.
Nowell says that he can’t stand the pitches and says he feels ‘like death’ the week after having to compete on the surfaces.
“I can’t stand them,” Nowell told The Offload podcast. “I’m in a position now that I can play on them but when I was younger I struggled quite a bit with patellar tendonitis. I had that op [operation] done eventually.
“So I’m kind of in a position to play on them, but they’re just not nice.
“When you get through the game, you feel alright, then your Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday sessions are horrendous.
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“I can’t run. I feel very, very sore, worse than I normally would after a game. I don’t know if you become robust to them or used to playing on them.”
Nowell concedes that Desso pitches – mixed grass and artificial – are excellent, but that the cheaper, multi-purpose 4G alternatives are not up to scratch.
“If you put a Desso pitch [mixed grass and synthetic] next to a 4G pitch, the reason you use a 4G pitch is to get more use out of them, let people walk on them, do concerts on them or whatever, that’s not about the rugby and I understand that. Clubs have got to make money but that’s not about the rugby.
“It’s not worth putting players are risk over it. I know there are studies that come out saying there’s not a lot more risk on them, but I reckon that’s got to be complete rubbish.
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“If you saying that you put a Desso pitch and grass pitch versus a 4G pitch and you say you’re not getting more injuries, then that’s complete lies.
“It’s all about cuts. Anyone who doesn’t like them puts pictures of their cuts up. The cuts are brutal. It’s crazy. You get boys having skin grafts.
“Players aren’t able to train because their wounds are so badly opened and they’re not healing and they’re infected. It’s horrible.
“You can promise until you are blue in the face how good artificial pitches and how won’t get cut. No matter what you do, you’re always going to get cuts on it, unless it’s grass.
“That’s just the cuts side of it. There’s the shock side of it and the load side.
“We’ve had a lot of boys with ACLs and stuff. With grass and Desso there’s a certain give. With Desso they are 60 – 40, so there is a bit to it. They [Desso] look good and they are kept better, but if you go full 4G, they just don’t help your body.
“Even just the way you feel. You can’t train. The last time I played on one, on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, I felt like death. It wasn’t until Thursday and Friday – and I was playing on Friday – that I felt better again.
“This year will be interesting. We’ve got Glasgow, Worcester, Sarries and Newcastle all within four or five weeks [all with 4G pitches]. It’s going to be a test for a few of our boys.”
Podcast regular Ryan Wilson, who plays and trains on Glasgow’s 4G pitch gave a slightly different take.
Pretty unequivocal from Marler… 😠https://t.co/uk2DXm6Lgd
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) September 20, 2021
“What I would say is that a Desso pitch is a lot more expensive,” said Wilson. “That’s probably why people go for the cheaper option. If I had the choice, I’d play on Desso all day long, even over grass.
“You don’t get as dirty and they are prestine. The weather in Glasgow is the main reason we ended up getting a fully synthetic pitch.
“It just rains all the time and the pitch just flooded and flooded and flooded. I do believe you get more used to it [4G pitches]. I’ve got used to play on it. I train on it every single day. We don’t train on a grass pitch.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Following his dream and putting in the work. Go well young fella!
3 Go to commentsPerhaps filling Twickenham is one of Mitchell’s KPIs. I doubt whether both September matches will be at Twickenham on consecutive weekends. I would take the BF one to a large provincial stadium so as not to give them the advantage and experience of playing at Twickenham before a large crowd prior to the RWC.
1 Go to commentsvery unfortunate for Kitshoff, but big opportunity potentially for Nché to prove he is genuinely the best loosehead in the world, rather than just a specialist finisher. Presuming that if Kitshoff is out, it will also give Steenekamp a chance to come into the 23? Or are others likely to be ahead of him?
1 Go to commentsA long held question in popular culture asks if art imitates life or does the latter influence the former? Over this 6 nations I can ask the same question of the media influencing the thoughts of its audience or vice versa. Nobody wants to see cricket scores in rugby, as a spectacle it is not sustainable. With so many articles about England’s procession and lack of competition it feeds the epicaricacy of many looking for an opportunity to pounce. England are not the first team to dominate nor does it happen only in rugby, think Federer, Nadal, Red Bull or Mercedes, Manchester Utd, Australia in tests and World Cups. Instead of celebrating the achievements why find reasons to falsify it pointing towards larger playing pool, professional for a longer period or mitigate with the lack of growth in other nations. Can we not enjoy it while it is here and know that it won’t last for ever, others coveting what England have will soon take the crown, ask the aforementioned?
6 Go to commentsShame he won’t turn out for the Netherlands now they’re improving. U20s are Euro champs and in the U20 Trophy this year. The senior sides gets better every year too.
3 Go to commentsWill rugbypass tv be showing these games?
1 Go to commentsWell where do you start, the fact that England have a professional domestic league and Ireland’s is fully amatuer, that they have fully seperated professional squads at Fifteens and Sevens (7’s thinly disguised as GB), and Ireland have fully pro Sevens squad who loan some players back to the Semi-Professional Fifteens squad (moved from amateur for only a year or so) for a few games at 6N & RWC’s. The Women’s games is a shambles, and is at risk of killing itself by pushing for professionalism when the market isn’t really there to support it outside one or two countnries..
6 Go to commentsWayne Smith's input didn't have as much impact on the last final as Davison's red card for Thompson. England were 14 points up and flying when that happened.
6 Go to commentsBilly's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
2 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
28 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
2 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
3 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
2 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to commentsAnd the person responsible for creating a culture of accountability is?
3 Go to commentsMore useless words from Ben Smith -Please get another team to write about. SA really dont need your input, it suck anyway.
264 Go to commentsThis disgraceful episode must result in management and coach team sackings. A new manager with worse results than previous and the coaching staff need to coached. Awful massacre led by donkeys.
1 Go to comments