Scarlets Star Says Glasgow’s 4G Pitch ‘Should Be Illegal’
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Dangerous.
Scarlets’ preparations for Saturday’s PRO14 final with Leinster have been greatly affected, after a number of their players picked up injuries because of Glasgow’s 4G artificial pitch.
Coach Wayne Pivac said Scotstoun’s 4G pitch was “very bad”, Wales winger Steff Evans said it was “shocking” and Johnny McNicholl says such surfaces should be “illegal”.
Pivac said players suffered blisters, sore feet and “a lot of bad burns”, and that players were unable to train on Monday and some were still out of action on Tuesday because “to run around and knock the skin off again is not the ideal situation”.
“The main thing is to make the burns heal up,” Pivac said
“So, no-one trained yesterday [Monday] in terms of rugby work on the field and there will be some who won’t train today which is unfortunate, but we will have a full training session on Thursday.
“It’s things that won’t stop them playing, but it’s not ideal.”
Winger Steff Evans says the wounds he suffered will be “stuck with him for a while”.
“These [wounds] are going to be stuck with me for a while, it is a tough field that 4G,” he said.
“It was just really dry. It wasn’t soft, it was a hard ground.
“The weather didn’t help, it was like playing on carpet, it was shocking.
“You are waking up in bed and the sheets are stuck to your leg about seven times a night.”
Fullback McNicholl, who said he sustained a dozen burns, reckons the pitch should be illegal.
“It was like a carpet burn. I said to the trainer straight after with a few words that I felt this pitch should be illegal.
“I don’t like playing on them because they are high risk for injury.
“I could not train yesterday [Monday] because of the burns and my feet were numb.
To make matters worse – Scarlets back-row John Barclay picked up a serious achilles injury while playing on the surface that has ruled him out for at least six months.
Wasps star Jack Willis also picked up a serious injury over the weekend while playing on Saracens’ 4G pitch, suffering a multi-ligament injury to his right knee that will keep him out for 9-12 months.
