Radio saying Widnes U20 game abandoned due to serious injury

Tom Coyle compound fracture of his leg apparantly.

Looks like this pitch may be a very costly mistake, how long to lay a new grass pitch? home games at Wire for a couple of weeks?

The injury was caused by a tackle not the pitch.

It wouldn't have helped mathers when he skid onto the concrete/gravel when craven scored his try. If players want to wear under armour to prevent them getting burns then go for it, you only have to play at widnes once a year. I saw peacock having a little say last night as well. It had been approved by the RFL! If it hadn't of been, we wouldn't of spent half a million installing it.

As for the broken leg incident, it had nothing to do with the pitch. It was an injury which sadly can happen in rugby, it's happened in the past and it will happen again.

I'm not as worried about the grazes from friction burn,but more the way that a lot of the players last night were reluctant to turn quick or to stop very abruptly.

The players 'tensing up' would cause injuries prior to impact, of a muscular or tendon association.

I don't think the players studs can get a decent enough grip into the matting, or whatever the pitch is made of.

Players like Sam Tomkins who seem to skate across grass pitches will find the artificial pitch something else.

I don't think we have heard the last of Widnes pitch.

I think I'd take the iPitch over Barton's impression of Narnia, tonight.

I can see no way in which a compound fracture would be more likely on the I pitch. Its clearly more likely on grass. Your not going to get you studs stuck in the I pitch and have your bones give up under the pressure. If it happened then its not down to the pitch. I don't recall anyone saying Leeds should have replaced the pitch when chev walker snapped his leg.

I noticed Richard Owen was bleeding when he scored... Takes no prisoners this i pitch!

Not sure about ipitch but AstroTurf used to cause more bad breaks and hyperextionsions in the nfl.

Studs caught in natural turf, heavy tackle, the turf can rip.

Artificial turf doesn't give way so it is the leg that suffers.

Well I'm reassured by that.

It will be interesting to see what develops when a few other clubs have played on it.

Yep

Lot of players from both teams with cut knees too...it's all Widnes' fault

The i-pitch should never have been sanctioned by the RFL - it's a training surface and is not fit for purpose for competitive matches.

I'm sure that people will actually begin to care when one of the 'big' clubs has been to town; meanwhile, Mathers gets a torrent of abuse on Twitter after posting pictures of his kancked-up knees and elbows.

Skint clubs would do well to have the artificial pitch then it could be used 365 days a year instead making sure it is in the best condition possible for 12-15 matches a year.

If it provides Widnes an advantage that they will be the only team that consistantly play on it. So what, it's called home advantage. Can use Odsal as an example with it's own weather system and upturned corners, which don't provide them withany advantage...just wait that was when they were half decent.

As for cuts, grazes and injuries. Rugby is a contact sport so injuries happen just like the u20s player for Widnes (can't remember his name it was mentioned in the thread). As for collision injuries with the ground wtf?? Because grass may not be hard but the soil underneath is, and if anything the artificial pitch at York college that I played on was more spongier than the normal ground. May be a knock on effect is that it may take the run out of the players legs and may tire whether that will cause more injuries I don't know.

I played on the Preston North End plastic pitch 20 years ago and I wore trackies other players put vaseline on. And the PNE players for a period put trackies/base layers on. Neither did much difference still cut you to shreds but this different. The one at York colege didn't cut me at all.

Widnes/Denis Betts/RFL will have to work together to see what they can do in prevention or minimising cuts.