Fleck plays down Melbourne turf war after Stormers training ground fiasco

30 June 2016 - 17:37 By Craig Ray

Stormers coach Robbie Fleck shrugged off issues his side have had around gaining access to the AAMI Park pitch in Melbourne during their preparations for Saturday’s Super Rugby match against the Rebels. The Victorian franchise came under fire from the Australian Rugby Union (ARU) earlier this month after the turf disintegrated during the crucial second Test between the Wallabies and England.The situation led to a turf war in Australia. The union was threatened with losing the right to host future Test matches and the Rebels franchise also threatened to move their Super Rugby matches away from the stadium. In response the turf has been redone.“We haven't been allowed to train on it. We're actually not allowed to train on it‚ which is unfortunate‚” Fleck said from the Stormers’ Melbourne base on Thursday.“They re-laid the surface just after the Test match series so they're doing their best to make sure it's good and ready to go for us.“It’s obviously a bit disruptive that we don’t get to do our captain’s run there tomorrow but they’ve given us assurances that all would be good.“If the pitch does break up we’re going to have certain tactical things that need to be done around the scrum‚ but hopefully they've done a good job and we can play on a decent surface.” The Stormers need to win to stay on course for an automatic play-off berth by staying on top of the Africa 1 conference with three matches to go.The June international break has been disruptive for the Stormers with 10 players on duty for both the Springboks and SA ‘A’‚ but Fleck believes there are some positives to take out of the scenario.The Boks beat Ireland 2-1 in a difficult series while SA ‘A’ lost both their matches against a touring England Saxons. “The Springbok players are doing well but they had a tough series against Ireland and emotionally and physically they took a battering‚” Fleck said.“They had to dig deep in June and they have brought that intensity and focus back with them‚ which should help give us some momentum.“They needed a break when they came back so they had Monday off.“Everyone is in the same position but the Rebels and the Force‚ who we play on tour‚ weren’t disrupted too much and they had a virtually full squad to train with over the two weeks.”TMG Digital/TMG Sport..

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