Patience prescribed for park's patchy pitch

It's really just a time issue, the surface will mature a lot quicker now, so there are no issues with that.Alex Glasgow, sports turf consultant  At times it resembled a round of golf more than a rugby match.
The competitors took time out during breaks in play to replace divots lying around on Okara Park during Northland's 21-37 defeat by visiting Counties-Manukau on Thursday.
Chunks of earth flying out of the ground became quite a talking point during the game, almost by default, as desperate Taniwha supporters looked for an easier subject of discussion rather than watch the one-sided encounter unfolding before their eyes.
Northland Rugby Union's CEO Jim Smillie said he was alarmed at how quickly the turf was cutting up during the match and put us on to sports turf consultant Alex Glasgow, who is overseeing the pitch's development and who okayed the ground for the game.
Glasgow said patience is called for when a sand-based pitch is laid. He said the surface wasn't sown until the autumn, and that winter growing conditions were hardly ideal for the grass bedding in.
"These things take time to become really robust and the judgment was whether it would be good enough to host these games - not would it be perfect - and I think it has been good enough to host both games without too many disruptions," Glasgow said.
The turf consultant didn't believe the ground had deteriorated at all since the Otago match, rather it had failed to improve as much as the ground staff had hoped.
"The only real issue has been at scrum time, normal play wasn't affected [during the game] but when you get two packs pushing hard in a scrum, that pressure makes all the difference in the weaker areas of the ground."
Glasgow said the weather before the Counties match hadn't been as good for growing as they had hoped but the next three weeks could prove to be the turning point in the playing surface's development.
"It should definitely improve before Northland's next home game in three weeks time ... the balance of September should bring ideal playing conditions and for the next game the ground should be noticeably better," Glasgow said.
"What really has to happen is for there to be more root mass to stabilise the sand, with time the root mass builds up and creates a more resilient surface and is less likely to break up."
Glasgow said the summer growth would take care of any concerns about the surface ahead of next year's IRB Rugby World Cup. "It's really just a time issue, the surface will mature a lot quicker now, so there are no issues with that," he said.