Ealing pitch

The Blues top try scorer had to leave before half time due to the Ealing pitch injuring him, wouldn’t have made a difference to the result but still his leg doesn’t look good.

https://twitter.com/deanoadamson/status/1119864564143796225?s=21

Edited by The Blues - 22 Apr 2019 at 15:59

I saw that too, looks pretty nasty. I suspect the very hot weather on Sat was a significant contributor.

I may be wrong but I seem to remember reading that the RFU funded 3G pitches were not the greatest quality.
There doesn't, however, seem to be any complaints about the pitches at Saracens and Newcastle.
If Cov go down the artificial route I hope due research is carried out as to the best playing surface.

marigold wrote: To be fair any money spent on the playing surface at Coventry will be welcome. It is sadly by far the worst in the Championship.

Yes, we've had that pointed out several times already. Hopefully things will be improved for next season.

The Blues wrote: The Blues top try scorer had to leave before half time due to the Ealing pitch injuring him, wouldn’t have made a difference to the result but still his leg doesn’t look good. https://twitter.com/deanoadamson/status/1119864564143796225?s=21

to say the pitch injured him seems a little extreme

I've noticed from my team playing on 3 separate 4G pitches there seems to be proportionately more stoppages and injuries on 4G than with grass. Plus more players complained about calf pains afterwards.  Honestly, I think they are not a good idea.

I would like to hear more from players. Saracens Cardiff to name a couple do not seem to have complaints.
Do you have to get the better class of 4G pitch and pay more to get less injuries.

Munster’s first match on the surface arrived two months after Scarlets backrow John Barclay ruptured an Achilles’ tendon at Scotstoun, and fullback Johnny McNicholl called for artificial pitches to be outlawed. The following day Wasps flanker Jack Willis, who had just been called into the England squad, ruptured ligaments in his right knee on Saracens’ artificial pitch.

The Premiership now has three clubs who use the artificial surface, Saracens, Newcastle and Worcester. Gloucester intended joining them this season, but after taking advice from their players, the club is spending on a surface that will be a hybrid of grass and artificial grass fibres.

 The injuries may be perceived to be part of the game of rugby, tough luck and coincidental. But the most recent Premiership study bears out the belief that plastic pitches are more dangerous and cause more injuries than grass. It also begs the question why, from a player-welfare perspective, are they becoming more rather than less common.

Synthetic pitches

The RFU crunched the numbers on grass and synthetic pitches in Premiership rugby, and came up with a report after the 2016-17 season.

It said that for that season 608 injuries were recorded on grass, 170 on artificial surfaces. With just three pitches the exposure to plastic was less, but returned injury rates of 129.1 per 1,000 hours compared to the grass rate of 89.6 per 1,000 hours, the total hours representing 25 matches. The average severity for match injuries on grass was 32 days, compared with 37 days for artificial turf.

As stated in the official report: “The overall burden of injuries on natural grass was 2,481 per 1,000 days compared with 4,740 per 1,000 days on artificial turf, a staggering difference.”

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/article-6774865/Northampton-scrum-half-Alex-Mitchell-posts-grim-snap-leg-wound-suffered-against-Saracens.html

I don't know enough about artificial pitches to comment but my son plays a senior level of hockey, where artificial pitches have been the norm for many years. He often gets a nasty graze from a tumble but says that it is the older sand based pitches which are an issue. Falling on a sandy, gritty surface is never going to be fun. The  best hockey surfaces seem to be water based , e.g. London 2012 and since, and I don't think the falls are as bad. Makes me wonder whether top sports e.g. professional rugby and hockey ever compare notes ....?