Stormers fans can rejoice - despite the disappointment of losing the Vodacom United Rugby Championship final, their new pitch is on its way to Cape Town from Germany and should be in South Africa within weeks.
After the disappointment of Saturday’s final, where the DHL Stormers lamented the state of their own pitch on a night where all luck evaded them, the good news is that given the new pitch, Cape Town Stadium should not be in the same state ever again.
Stadium CEO Lesley de Reuck told SuperSport last week that the reason the pitch was in a state was because the stadium had hosted a massive 48 events during the year, including a monster truck evening and with grass needing eight weeks to recover, there simply hadn’t been enough time between events to get the pitch in shape.
??? "It's en route to Cape Town as we speak and it's going to be a fast pitch!"
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) May 29, 2023
DHL Stadium CEO Lesley De Reuck explains to @Brendennel what the new grass inside the stadium will be made up of ??? pic.twitter.com/thLfNlg6Dq
Heavy rain in Cape Town last Thursday also didn’t help matters and it was clear that the pitch was just holding on in the final and should have been a lot better for a game of that stature.
De Reuck did confirm the pitch was already en route from Germany and would take 3 months to lay - to get it ready in time for the new URC season - and at a cost of almost R16-million it would be a significant improvement, especially because it is virtually the same pitch that Wembley Stadium and Twickenham Stadium in England have for their disposal.
The pitch is 50 per cent synthetic, and 50 per cent turf - meaning it will dry out easily and is set to be a high-paced venue that should suit the Stormers’ game.
Dobson was at pains to avoid blaming the field but couldn’t help but look at the realities of how it hampered his team’s performance on Saturday.
"I just hate mentioning the field, because of how it's going to sound," Dobson said.
"I really thought the referee was superb and put in an excellent performance, but the field was a nightmare for us.
"I take it on me, because maybe we should have changed our game model. Maybe we should have slowed down the line-speed, kicked contestables, not try too many counter-attacks or go around the back.
"Maybe we got those things wrong, because those were tough conditions to play our game model in and we should have adapted."
The new pitch can apparently withstand 4 times as much force as a normal grass pitch and therefore should also help the Stormers scrum establish some dominance against overseas opposition as well.
“The project team has gone into a lot of detail prior to deciding which pitch we will be implementing,” De Reuck told SuperSport.
“We’ve taken things into account - including 100 per cent grass pitch, 100 per cent synthetic pitch and then the hybrid pitch. If you look at how the stadium pitch handles itself, the opportunity to swing it from a rugby match to a soccer match to a stadium concert or whatever else - it’s a must that we need to put in a hybrid pitch.
“It also has to do with the safety of the players. We believe a fully nylon pitch - I myself wouldn’t want to fall on that. It is going to be softer on the body, and it is going to be a fast pitch but the Stormers are playing fast rugby. So I think it will suit their brand of rugby.”
It is little consolation for the Stormers and for the other sides who have lost on the Cape Town pitch but at least the future looks bright and once the new pitch is installed, hopefully there will be no more talk of the pitch, with the focus being on the rugby being played rather than the surface.