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Pitch surfaces?

Dai Perk

Bench Player
Joined
Sep 19, 2018
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United States
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Scotland
Hello, my friends,

Am I imagining it, or are all the UK pitches various types of artificial turf, while the French actually use grass? That must cause different planning for how to approach a match, yes?

What about Italy? Do they use turf, or grass? Or am I oversimplifying?

Thanks, y'all!

Dave
 
In Wales Cardiff Blues play on an artificial pitch, Scarlets play on grass, whilst the Ospreys, Dragons and the pitch in the Principality Stadium are all desso pitches.

Desso is a blend of real grass reinforced with artificial fibres. Imo this is the best surface for rugby, but it's an expensive option, costing more than grass and fully artificial surfaces.
 
Thanks, my friends, very informative as always... I notice the French pitches seem to get torn up really quick, but then again, it's been very rainy the last few weeks and I'm sure that's not necessarily ordinary. I wonder if any NFL teams use Desso, sounds like a great option and lord knows they aren't lacking the funds...
 
There's a list here, though I don't know how up-to-date it is: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GrassMaster#Major_installations

As for France, Stade de France does have Desso GrassMaster but it lacks heating - something about the potential of gas lines blowing up or something which is why we've had games cancelled there in the past. - The pitch was drenched not it blowing up...
 
It'd be nice for there to be a bit more consistency among the Six Nations' teams and their home fields, but that's a lot easier, say, in the NFL, where they have scads and scads of billions of dollars...
 

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