Has anybody see the damage the kick and clap union boys are doing to the new million pound pitch at Leeds! Not a grass expert but the way it cut up at scrums it seams more like a football pitch than a rugby one. The grass at Belle Vues like a carpet really thick, the new one at leeds is like a bowling green.

Apparently the boys with pockets in their shorts don't contest scrums anymore at Headingley,too rough they say.

It will probably be allowed to grow longer for rugby purposes once it has established. The problem at the moment though is that the roots haven't made enough growth to bind it together. Always going to be a challenge to get it ready at this time of year.

I live very close, and the piles next to the south stand suggest the million quid wasn't spent on just grass. These things take time to knit together on top, but foundations will be deep if nothing else.

It's the whole pitch, i.e. all the soil / sand etc below - plus the heating system, but it is still a grass pitch and needs the grass to grow to complete the exercise. This would take a couple of weeks or so in season, but not mid-winter!

Tbf, the new pitch will have been a long term project and it has unfortunately coincided with the wettest year since records began.
They could do with some "keep off the grass signs" and a few old fashioned Park Keepers.
It's certainly a massive investment and the pitch looked much improved to the car park of old.

With RL & RU both being played on it, and its occasional use as a car park, Its interesting that Leeds went for a real grass surface as a pose to following Widnes and getting one of those semi synthetic iPitches or whatever they are.

Does anyone know the pros and cons of both types of pitches?

pros: not getting turf ripped up
cons: listening to Mathers whinging for four months that he got grazed