Saracens move closer to new home

Saracens lead the group with nine points ahead of their back-to-back clashes with former double champions Munster, starting at Thomond Park on Saturday, 8 December.

Munster are three points adrift of Saracens with Racing Metro 92 - who Saracens played their "home" match against at the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels - and Edinburgh Rugby completing a high quality Pool.

But while all eyes are focusing on those massive Munster challenges, the artificial turf is now being laid at Allianz Park.

Saracens will become the first professional rugby union club in the world to play on entirely artificial turf, promoting a faster, safer and more entertaining game, and the first of the four metre-wide strips has now been laid, with both the try line and the dead ball line permanently marked in the perfect surface.

Allianz Park will be officially opened on Saturday, 16 February, 2013, and Saracens chief Edward Griffiths says the club will deliver a 'fantastic match-day experience' with the stadium in Barnet transformed into a 10,000-capacity venue.

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

"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 before settling into our new home in the second half of the season.

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

"We are a club that tends to see good things rather than bad things - I think the relentlessly positive approach probably shines through."