5 Feb 2014

New hybrid pitch for Murrayfield

6:49 pm on 5 February 2014

A new hybrid grass pitch is to be laid at Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh in time for the 2014-15 season.

Scottish Rugby's Director of Management Services, Mark Laidlaw, says they're doing this primarily because this hybrid pitch is widely recognised as the best grass surface in the sporting world and they all want to see the Murrayfield playing surface restored to the pristine condition for which it is renowned.

The Desso Grassmaster hybrid grass pitch is a natural sports grass pitch, which is reinforced by millions of artificial turf fibres.

The new pitch will be based on the system already installed at such celebrated sporting citadels as the San Siro Stadium in Milan; Annfield at Liverpool FC; Manchester City's Etihad Stadium; Manchester United's Old Trafford; Arsenal's Emirates' Stadium; and Wembley.

In the rugby world, Twickenham, the Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Newlands in Cape Town, the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth and the Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin all have the pitch installed.