Australian Rugby Union CEO Bill Pulver "has slammed the AAMI Park playing surface during the second Test and threatened to cancel next year's international match at the ground after he was left 'embarrassed' at the state of the pitch," according to Tom Decent of the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD.
It "took just seven minutes" for the fears of Australian and English officials to be realized, "when the first scrum of the evening was packed."
Large "clods of turf were displaced and players from both sides struggled with their footing on what was already a greasy surface due to light rain before the match." AAMI Park officials "had guaranteed Pulver the state of the pitch would be fine but the ARU boss was left red-faced" sitting next to World Rugby Chair Bill Beaumont and Rugby Football Union CEO Ian Ritchie. Pulver: "I was embarrassed. It was a world-class Test match with an inadequate match-day surface, so it was not the sort of surface we should have been playing on. I was concerned but I'd been told that it would be fine and on the night clearly it wasn't." The ARU "has an agreement to play a Test match at AAMI Park in 2017," but Pulver was upfront about the odds of that happening, saying this latest farce "would affect the stadium's chances significantly." He said, "They've got to get to our satisfaction, that the next time that we play it will be an adequate surface, so there's a fair bit of work to be done" (SMH, 6/19).
In Sydney, Iain Payten reported "big sandy holes were exposed that were dangerous to players," and Pulver said that it was fortunate "no-one was injured on a field that he deemed not safe for international rugby." The worst part is the turf problem "is not new." It has occurred "all year during Rebels games due a diseased root system." In a sign of the ARU's mood toward AAMI Park, Pulver said that "they now want regular reports on the surface being safe from an 'independent' turf expert." The ARU "moved from Etihad Stadium to the smaller AAMI Park for better atmosphere, and the game’s crowd broke the ground record." But Pulver said there is no guarantee the ARU will return. He repeated his call for AAMI Park and others "to invest in hybrid turf technology to ensure the scenes of Saturday night are not repeated." Pulver: "AAMI Park must investigate all technology available to improve the surface. If we don’t have satisfactory progress in the coming months, we’ll need to revisit our agreement with them for 2017" (DAILY TELEGRAPH, 6/19).
