PONTYPRIDD, WALES — The dressing room at rugby stadium in Wales looked like a hospital burn ward after a cup game on Sunday, when seven players were left with severe burns from the artificial turf.
Merthyr RFC coach Lee Jarvis told Wales Online some of his players suffered near third-degree burns during their 24-20 defeat to RGC 1404 in the Welsh National cup semifinal. The match was played at Sardis Road stadium, which spent half a million pounds to install artificial turf in September to replace its old grass surface.
Jarvis said seven members of his team needed antibiotics and treatment from the doctor, and three of them could possibly miss Saturday’s Premiership game against Jarvis’s old side, Pontypridd RFC. Ironically, Sardis Road is Pontypridd’s stadium.
Jarvis told Wales Online that his players have played on the artificial surface before. He said the incident won’t prevent them away from playing on the same surface again. Jarvis suspected that usage from the game flattened the pitch and made the surface harder to play on, thus causing the gruesome injuries.
