Newcastle United will be concerned with the state of their St James' Park pitch after another Rugby World Cup game, according to New Zealand's stand-in captain Kieran Read.
New Zealand's 47-9 win over Tonga on Friday saw St James' groundstaff called in to fix a number of issues with pitchforks as the surface cut up under the pressure from scrums.
ST JAMES PARK pitch right now! #NUFC pic.twitter.com/PaDwl6jdrR
- NUFCYOU .com (@SSportsToon) October 9, 2015
Scotland met Samoa on Sunday in the final of three scheduled World Cup games at the venue before Newcastle host Norwich on Oct. 18 and Read has some sympathy for Steve McClaren's men.
"It was great throughout the whole game, except for maybe the scrums," the All Black told The Chronicle of the pitch.
"It put a bit of pressure on the front-rowers, but probably the football team are going to be more worried about it than anyone else.
"It is just what you have got to deal with and certainly it didn't have too much of an impact on the scrums as a whole."
Newcastle have yet to win a game at home in the Premier League, while they sit at the bottom of the table with only three points from their eight games so far.