A let down,

Cardiff had a much better feel, better atmosphere in and out of the ground, and is next to the city centre.
The Murrayfield stadium doesn't have the same feel, Until the sun came out its a cold windy stadium, The stewards once again annoyed me, Why do the block peoples viewing 5 mins before the end of a half? and for the last game on sunday tripled all because of bantor between fans.
On the Food And drink side, we were promised better choice and quality, How is it better to go outside to get a beer than stay in the dry like at Cardiff. The burgers were cold, they ran out of milk for the wifes cuppa by game 5 of the weekend, and most inportant ran out of larger at the Bar tent on the east side of the ground for game 6.

Another reasons it was taken away from wales was due to lack of local advertising, but yet not one local (haymarket) old and young i spoke to knew anything about it.

The city centre wasn't the same, Most places were closing bang on 1am, getting taxi was a joke, we stood at rank with transport marshalls for 40 mins be we got 1.

& not one of them new that the rugby was on until they asked why we were up here!!

Well they sold 2000 more tickets locally than Cardiff managed to they must have been doing something right regarding marketing it to the local population.

Given the current financial climate, and the fact it wasn't derby games I think the attendance held up well. Let's face it more people are going to be interested in travelling to see Leeds/Bradford than Leeds/Catalans or Bradford/Wakefield.

Now we have a 14 team comp, and only home and away derbies, I think they might go back to the derbies next year - it has been overkill having 4 a season for the last two years but 3 might not be so bad.

I prefer Murrayfield as a stadium. It was good to sit in the sunshine rather than the dark and freezing cold of a closed Millennium stadium.

I'm still not convinced it's a good idea overall though. It's too expensive for a lot of fans and we were very lucky with the weather. That pitch would not have stood 7 games in the rain and the crowds would not have been anything like.

That just leaves you Wembley or Cardiff as the covered options and as I said the covered stadium was cold and dark.

Ok it's a good media opportunity but mid season internationals could surely do that.

Having never been to Cardiff I can't compare, but I thought the magic weekend was absolutely superb and I will definitely be going again, wherever it is.

I second that, had a cracking weekend, hopefully get a few more going next year but I'll definately be there.

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and if you include the rest of the statement from the RFL its not such a gloomy picture - in fact attendance was approximately the same as the first year it was held in Cardiff and as others have mentionned, financial constraints are likely to have impacted more severely on the crowds this year.

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To be honest I reckon that the Millennium is the best stadium I`ve watched rugby at in respect of the atmosphere, but the downside was the slipping and sliding around, apparently caused by condensation,which none of the teams seemed to overcome. Against that Edinburgh is easily the better city in terms of being a visitor attraction, both for accommodation and for things to do in general, so for me, on balance, Murrayfield wins.

As for the food etc being up or down a few steps

, unless you`re in a wheel chair or on crutches so what? I went down both at halftimes and between games; queues were minimal and the choice was way above normal, if only it were so easy at normal league matches.

We had a wonderful experience, it held an awesome atmosphere.

The stadium guys really pulled off a great job. There were that many food and drinks bars we never queued for more than a couple of minutes. The Scots playing their bagpipes as each club bus came around the ground was fantastic.

Drinking in and around Edinburgh with like minded supporters just made the whole experience unique. How many other sports can create a weekend like this ? With different supporters all enjoying drinking, chatting and even some good old singing.


I know it's not every-one's cup of tea, but I didn't find a fan all weekend that wished they hadn't turned up

I have some great pics that I will put up later on after me and the legend that is Odsal Oddball went on a stalking spree.

I only made the Saturday and had a great time. Boo shucks to the idiot Wakefield fan who thought it would be a good idea to launch a full pint at us when Bradford scored a try. Bloody idiot.