Not viable for Edinburgh: Cape Town Stadium
Related links
Teams
Also see
Edinburgh have rejected a proposal by Saracens to play their Heineken Cup Round Six clash in South Africa.
Edinburgh managing director Craig Docherty said the plan to move the fixture, scheduled for January 20, to the 55,000 seater Cape Town Stadium was not "commercially compelling".
Sarries have already successfully moved one Heineken Cup fixture abroad this season: they will host Racing Metro in Brussels next week.
Saracens' official fixture list currently has the Edinburgh game down to be played at Vicarage Road, their last game in Watford before moving to Allianz Park in Hendon.
"As a club, our commitment is to our fans and other key stakeholders, such as sponsors, and fundamentally our goal is to qualify from what is a very challenging Heineken Cup pool," said Docherty.
"Following Edinburgh Rugby to South Africa is simply not an option for the vast majority whose support was so crucial to our journey to last season's semi-final.
"I am sure they will be desperate to support us in what could be a critical pool game.
"The case made by Saracens was not commercially compelling and, from a performance perspective, would have had a detrimental effect on our preparation for - and recovery from - this match.
"Edinburgh Rugby are open to new and innovative ideas, but the prospect of playing our final pool game in the southern hemisphere was simply not an option that we could seriously consider from a number of different perspectives.
Saracens chief executive Ed Griffith told Daily Telegraph that he would have expected a "crowd of 50,000 in Cape Town."
"It would have been a one-off. It would have made rugby history and I think it would have been a huge event for the players, the supporters, everybody," said Griffith.
"It's probably going to be very cold and miserable in Europe then. But people could have turned on to see this game played in the evening sunlight and balmy temperatures, and probably a great game of rugby. It would have been fantastic for Saracens and for Edinburgh and for European rugby, so it's disappointing that it can't take place."
Comments
Bones7 says...
As if Ed Griffith would have the nerve to criticise Edinburgh for not pandering to Sarries ridiculous idea. Fair play to them for rejecting a plan that would definitely not suit them and definitely not 'make rugby history'
Posted 10:33 12th October 2012
kenttaff says...
its only because theres no IRN BRU on tap in cape town...
Posted 10:29 12th October 2012
porridge_time says...
jonesy2...
Edinburgh actually attempt to play a decent brand of rugby and are quite entertaining to watch.
Posted 09:40 12th October 2012
jonesy2 says...
yeah it hardly makes sense i mean what cape town locoal would pay to go and see a heineken cup game when there are probably better standard games going on in the suburbs that weekend..
Posted 07:09 12th October 2012
hellovanite says...
Shut up Griffith, spin it anyway you like, but we all know how Saracens like to play impartial and innocent, all the while hugely stacking the deck in their favour. Good on Edinburgh for seeing through the ruse
Posted 06:22 12th October 2012
Realbull says...
Mmm...50 000 for saracens vs edinburgh? Unlikely. Maybe 30 000 for stormers vs saracens!
Posted 06:14 12th October 2012
Realbull says...
Mmm...50 000 fans for saracens vs edinburgh in cape town? Not possible. Maybe 30 000 for stormers vs saracens?
Posted 06:10 12th October 2012
Waz4before says...
lets be fair to Edinburgh .. it makes it really hard to rest your players if they're asked to travel long distances ...
Posted 04:05 12th October 2012
provyd says...
Saracens clearly haven't realised that this is a European competition, not a travelling circus to be used and abused for commercial stunts. The idea certainly seems to be pretty dismissive of Saracens' fans - how many of them can actually afford to fly to SA for one match? And what is so special about watching a rugby match on TV, simply because it's taking place in Cape Town? Don't they already have rugby in South Africa?
Posted 23:22 11th October 2012
whatisthis says...
ridiculous....and i seriously doubt they would get anywhere near that amount of fans.
Posted 21:35 11th October 2012
melkdave says...
LOLOL Why am i not surprised ,i cant think of any reason what so ever Edinburgh would want to play in CapeTown South Africa at all LOLOLSaracens may want to reward their SA backers ,but what a stuid idea LOLOLtotally pathetic LOLOLjust dioesnt do the notion justice LOLOLOL
Posted 20:29 11th October 2012
papachinzo says...
And we're off...
I wonder if they'll get it this year ?
Posted 20:12 11th October 2012
boksmashoffice says...
why would south Africans want to watch the brand of rugby Saracens play? They get enough of that with the current Bok team.
Posted 19:35 11th October 2012
heathy says...
Really???? It is completely obvious that Edinburgh would not role over on this and just jet off to South Africa for a game of rugby. What planet is Ed Griffith on?? The costs, the jet lag, the p*ssing off of supporters, preparation, logistics, etc etc etc. This is just to name a few issues here. Hey, I'm all for thinking outside the box and for doing innovative things but this isn't any of those. It's just a completely stupid idea!
Posted 19:33 11th October 2012
Sheridan says...
Sure why not move a 'European cup game' to South Africa, we can play the six nations in Argentina and Chile too....
Posted 19:13 11th October 2012