'The biggest thing we have been told is there's no right or wrong'
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.
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.
“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.
"In terms of how it came about, I can’t answer that"
– With the Worcester stage set for Steve Diamond to start work next Monday, @heagneyl ??? has heard from Jonathan Thomas about the prospect of having a no-nonsense line manager #Warriors #GallagherPremhttps://t.co/tHPhJv769w
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 24, 2021
“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.
“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.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Christie is not Sottish, like the majority of the Scotland team.
2 Go to commentsHold the phone, decline over-rated. Is it a one game, dead cat bounce or the real thing? Has the Penney dropped? Stay tuned.
44 Go to commentsTotally deserved win for the Crusaders Far smarter than the Chiefs who seem to be avoiding the basics when it matters Hotham showed them what was missing and Hannah seems a real find - a tad light but that can be fixed over time
8 Go to commentsGreat insight into the performance culture with Sarries and I predict Christie will be a fixture in the Scotland team now for some time to come. However, he is slightly missing his own point around Scotland “being soft” when he cites physicality examples in defence of that slight. The issue is much closer to the example he referenced around feeling off before a game but being told “it doesn’t matter, you can still play well” by Farrell. Until Scotland can get their psyche in that square, they will carry on folding under extreme pressure…
2 Go to comments> We are having to adapt, evolve and innovate more than when we were in Super Rugby where there was only really one style that everybody had to play to gain the most success. Have = able to? Interesting what that one style might be? I thought SA sides still had bad tours now, or at least bad schedule, months away? Those extra few hours flights have to be a killer though, no surprise to see their sides doing so badly at the start of the season each year. I wouldn’t enjoy that unfairness as a supporter.
5 Go to commentsThe problem for NZ, and Aus, is they ripped up the SR model and lost a massive chunk of revenue that hasn’t been replaced. Don’t forget SA clubs went North because they were left with no choice, Argy unceremoniously binned and Japan cast adrift. Now SR wasn’t perfect, far from it, but they’ve jumped into something without an effective plan, so far, to replace what they’ve lost. The biggest revenue potential now lies in Japan but it won’t be easy or quick to unlock, they are incredibly insular in culture as a nation. In the meantime, there is a serious time bomb sitting under SH rugby and if it happens then the current financial challenges will look like a picnic. IF the Boks follow their provincial teams and head north then it’s revenue meltdown. Not guaranteed to happen but the status quo is a very odd hybrid, with the Boks pointing one way and the clubs pointing the other way. And for as long as that remains then the threat is real.
44 Go to commentsI think Etene has had some good tuition, likely while at the Warriors to be a professional that helped his rugby jump, but he was certainly thrown in the deep end way too early. Should have arguably 20 less SR caps, and therefor a way better record that he does at his age, but his development would have been fast tracked by the need to satiate his signing away from league. Again, credit to him and others that he has done it so well. Easy to fall over under that pressure in the big leagues like that but he kept at it when I myself wasn’t sure he was good enough.
1 Go to commentsAwesome story. I wonder what a bigger American (SA) scene might have mean for Brex.
1 Go to comments“Johnny McNicholl and the Crusaders” save a Penney. Who has been in camp this week and showed them how to play?
8 Go to commentsSo, reports of the Crusaders’ demise / terminal decline are perhaps just - slightly - premature/exaggerated…? 🤔 Will we see a deep-dive into that by the estimable Rugbypass scribes, and maybe one or two mea culpas? Thought not.
8 Go to comments1. The Chiefs are rudderless without DMac, which enhances his AB chances 2. Chiefs pack are powderpuffs. The hard men arent there anymore 3. They had their golden title chance last yr and wont threaten this yr. Gone in second round of playoffs.
8 Go to commentsHonestly, why did you have to publish such a foolish article the day they play us? 😂
44 Go to comments> They are not standalone entities. They are linked to an amateur association which holds the FFR licence that allows the professional side to compete in the league. That’s a great rule. This looks like the chicken or egg professional scenario. How long is it going to be before the club can break even (if that is even a thing in French rugby)? If the locals aren’t into well it would be good to se them drop to amateur level (is it that far?). Hope they can reset from this level and be more practical, there will be a time when they can rebuild (if France has there setup right).
1 Go to commentsWhat about changing the ball? To something heavier and more pointed that bounces unpredictably. Not this almost round football used these days.
35 Go to commentsThis 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 commentsWow, didn’t realise there was such apathy to URC in SA, or by Champions Cup teams. Just read Nick’s article on Crusaders, are Sharks a similar circumstance? I think SA rugby has been far more balanced than NZs, no?
4 Go to commentsBut 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 commentsIt could be coincidental or prescient that the All Blacks most dominant period under Steve Hansen was when the Crusaders had their least successful period under Todd Blackadder and then the positions reversed when Razor took over the Crusaders.
44 Go to commentsDefinitely sound read everybodyexpects immediate results these days, I don't think any team would travel well at all having lost three of the most important game changers in the game,compiled with the massive injury list they are now carrying, good to see a different more in depth perspective of a coaches history.
3 Go to commentsSinckler is a really big loss for English rugby.
2 Go to comments