Saracens have had their plans to hold their Heineken Cup clash with Munster in New York scrapped. The ‘London’ based side had been hoping to reach an agreement with the city’s NFL teams, the Giants and the Jets, to use their 82,500 capacity MetLife Stadium to host the match on the 15th December.
An agreement had looked likely, but the NFL sides reluctance to allow rugby posts to be fitted to the artificial surface proved to be the sticking point.
The news comes only a couple of days after Edinburgh had rejected the offer from Saracens to host their Heineken Cup match in South Africa.
Saracens are in the process of building a new stadium, the Allianz Park, which should be opened in February. In the intervening period though, Saracens have been keen to host games in as many locations as possible in an attempt to broaden their appeal.
The worry for Saracens supporters though is that they are being somewhat alienated by the club, as for all of the good that it may do to broaden the appeal of rugby and English rugby, the fans are in reality the heart and soul of the club.
Chief Executive, Edward Griffiths made efforts to assure fans that their current Globetrotting plans are only a short term solution while they wait for the new stadium to be ready:
“We are in a unique position this season because our new stadium is not ready.â€
“We have invested a lot of money, time and effort in creating our own home at Allianz Park and in future it is likely that all our home matches in all competitions will be played there or at Wembley.â€
Saracens fans will be hoping that this is the case, as rumours of regular trips to South Africa have been strong ever since the South African investment a few years ago and the influx of South African playing talent along with it.
Saracens fans do however have one confirmed ‘home away from home’ match, when they take on Racing Metro 92 in Brussels on the 20th October.
Saracens begin their Heineken Cup campaign away at Edinburgh on Saturday.
