Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
NZ NZ

'The biggest thing we have been told is there's no right or wrong'

By Liam Heagney
(Photo by Jack Nowell)

Artificial surfaces have been a regular talking point in this season’s Gallagher Premiership as the number of these types of pitches increased to four for the 2021/22 campaign with Saracens gaining promotion back from the Championship and Gloucester getting rid of their grass pitch. Saturday night’s schedule will see the league’s other two artificial surface clubs, Newcastle and Worcester, go head to head on the pitch at Kingston Park after their game was held over from Friday due to Storm Arwen. 

ADVERTISEMENT

Much of the headline-making commentary about artificial pitches has been negative. England prop Joe Marler called for a ban after Harlequins’ opener at Newcastle while a picture by Jack Nowell of his burned knees went viral following Exeter’s trip to Gloucester. But what about those clubs who have these surfaces – what is their take on the conversation that has been happening with the season about to head into the depths of the English winter? 

Ex-Wales back-rower Jonathan Thomas has been head coach at Worcester since last January. Their artificial surface is hardly a major influence on the results of their matches – they don’t win all that much. But what does he make of the surface they play on at Sixways? When he initially came to Worcester last year as their defence coach, the artificial pitch was a question he regularly asked about as the club has had a Limonta Max S Turf surface since 2016.  

Video Spacer

Guess the celebrity Rose | Karen Carney | England Rugby

Video Spacer

Guess the celebrity Rose | Karen Carney | England Rugby

“Since coming back to Worcester I had to ask a lot of questions myself because a player I had played on 3G pitches but not consistently in the terms of the club I was at hadn’t one, so you ask a lot of questions. There are a lot of questions around what is the best surface to train on, to play on and all the questions that go with that,” said Thomas before Saturday’s game on Newcastle’s SIS – Rugger surface which they have used since 2014.

“It’s like anything in life, it’s whatever you get used to and if you were to ask our younger players who have not known any different, our 18-to-23-year-olds have never trained on anything other than the 3G pitch. When you speak to them about the 3G pitch they sort of look at you confused, they have got no issue with it because they have not known any different. They like and enjoy it and when you then go and train on grass, they are sort of raising their eyebrows going, ‘Why aren’t we training on the 3G?’ 

“It is whatever you get used to in life and conversely the ones who usually have a little whinge about it are the senior players who have been used to training on grass and softer pitches their whole lives. The biggest thing we have been told is there is no right or wrong. The biggest thing is consistency and where you get potential injuries is the inconsistency (in the use) of the surfaces, not the surface itself. 

“We train full-time on our 3G pitch, which gives us consistency and allows the players’ bodies to adapt to that surface. Our particular surface is coconut so it means we water it and the players don’t perhaps experience the same burns as maybe other pitches, but it is what it is. 

ADVERTISEMENT

“When perhaps 20 years ago you were watching mud fests, the positive of 3G pitches in a sport which is about entertainment, in the middle of winter it is giving a better entertaining game because of the consistency of the pitches. But I do also appreciate that for players and teams that don’t play on them every week it is a challenge when they play on an artificial surface because they are not used to it.”

Worcester skipper Ted Hill is one of those 18-to-23-year-old players Thomas was referring to and the artificial pitch is his preference. “As a player who has been at Sixways all my life, I am massively used to playing on 3G and would say I prefer it,” he enthused.

“You get a lot of players who train week in, week out on the grass and they go onto 3G and it’s quite hard, there is a little bit less give but I have played on it all my life and it’s not an issue for me. As a lineout jumper, it is difficult sometimes on the joints but that is the same on grass as well. I would say I prefer the 3G. The only difference is there is a little bit less give and you end up with scratches on it, but we actually don’t here because luckily we have that coconut stuff so it seems to be alright.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Join free

Aotearoa Rugby Podcast | Episode 6

Sam Warburton | The Big Jim Show | Full Episode

Japan Rugby League One | Sungoliath v Eagles | Full Match Replay

Japan Rugby League One | Spears v Wild Knights | Full Match Replay

Boks Office | Episode 10 | Six Nations Final Round Review

Aotearoa Rugby Podcast | How can New Zealand rugby beat this Ireland team

Beyond 80 | Episode 5

Rugby Europe Men's Championship Final | Georgia v Portugal | Full Match Replay

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

J
Jon 8 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

35 Go to comments
j
john 11 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

44 Go to comments
TRENDING
TRENDING 'I didn't think it would happen this early': Carbery on Munster exit 'I didn't think it would happen this early': Carbery on Munster exit
Search