Sport : Rugby Union

Griffiths happy with Sarries plans

16th July 2012, 03:30pm

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Saracens will be playing at Wembley again

Saracens will be playing at Wembley again

Saracens chief executive Ed Griffiths is confident that spreading their home fixtures across six venues will not have a negative effect on on-field performances.

The 2011 Aviva Premiership champions will play five games at their current Vicarage Road home next season and another five at the new Barnet Copthall Stadium, which they will move to in the New Year.

They will also stage games at Twickenham, Wembley, Stadium:mk and a yet-to-be-confirmed London venue.

But Griffiths does not believe such a nomadic existence will harm results.

"It was always going to be a season of transition and I'm pretty happy that we've come up with a season that will have quite a few unique and spectacular events in the first half of the season, before settling into our new home in the second half of the season," Griffiths told BBC Three Counties Radio.

"The players like big events, they like big crowds and they like big occasions and that's really what we've tried to provide.

"I went through the schedule with the players and the response from them and the coaches was overwhelmingly positive. We are a club that tends to see good things rather than bad things - I think the relentlessly positive approach probably shines through."

Saracens' first game at Barnet Copthall, which will have an artificial pitch, will be against Exeter on February 16, and Griffiths believes the move will be a huge success.

He said: "We're confident of delivering a really fantastic sporting venue and a fantastic experience for our supporters.

"We're going to have four video screens, one in each corner of the ground, the only ground in the country to have that; we're going to have an artificial turf pitch, again the only ground in the country to have that, I think we're going to have an awful lot going on and I anticipate we will be full."

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