Quote: Famous "Not wanting to get into a slanging match about the ipitch, I was wondering is Widnes poor start partly because of the ipitch and that it is a major disadvantage to them?
From the games and footage that I have seen the ipitch seems to make for a really quick game which when you are a new team, struggling anyway to get up to the speed of super league, obviously isnt a good thing. Muddy pitches and bad conditions are a great leveller for poorer teams and Widnes havent got this with the ipitch. I would have certainly thought that playing on the ipitch would suit the likes of Wigan, Saints, Warrington, Leeds etc a damn site more than Widnes. Just a thought but I may be completely wrong.'"
There is probably quite a bit of truth to that. Against Leeds we did have a few long range tries scored against us, which might not have been scored on a heavy pitch. Also with Leeds not playing JJB, Peacock and Bailey on a boggy pitch Leeds might have struggled down the middle. Anytime we did put pressure on Leeds, however they were able to use their faster more agile players to get them out of trouble. I suppose the pitch might hinder us for the 1st few games, but the fact we're going to be playing on it every other week, may mean we're the ones who will be used to the faster pace than a lot of other teams - well here's hoping anyway.
I don't know if it was the pitch, poor defence or just class, but at times Rob Burrow was untouchable against us and I've got a feeling Tomkins will be exactly the same when we play Wigan.
