Glasgow have surrendered home advantage in the second leg of the 1872 Cup by switching Saturday’s match to BT Murrayfield due to the state of the Scotstoun Stadium pitch.
Two full days from the fixture, the pitch has been deemed as unplayable due to waterlogging and the return match against Edinburgh switched to Murrayfield with the same kick-off time of just after 5pm.
“All efforts” had been made to get the Scotstoun pitch playable with some relaying of the surface taking place over the last few days, said a Glasgow Warriors statement. “However following heavy rain and wind in Glasgow over the last 48 hours it is no longer possible to play, especially with more bad weather forecast for the weekend.”
All tickets for the game will be valid for Murrayfield and “further ticketing information” will be provided in due course, added the club.
Warriors managing director Nathan Bombrys said: “We’re disappointed that the game cannot go ahead at Scotstoun as originally planned and all efforts were made to get the game on.
“However, after unprecedented rainfall over the last couple of days we wanted to make an early decision to help our supporters make appropriate plans and ensure the game went ahead this weekend.
“We investigated a number of options, however BT Murrayfield was the only stadium which allowed us to play the game on the same day and time, with a large enough capacity.
“It’s not an ideal situation going back to Edinburgh, but we need to get the game played and we’ll do everything we can to make this a Glasgow home game.
“We’re working on a travel plan and we will communicate directly with all our supporters who have bought a ticket for this match. We would encourage supporters to make the trip to Edinburgh and get behind the team, for what is an extremely important fixture.”
Glasgow already have two previously postponed fixtures still to play, with the Racing 92 European Rugby Champions Cup match rescheduled for next week and another Guinness PRO12 game against Leinster at Scotstoun still outstanding.
The 1872 second leg match at Scotstoun in 2014 was postponed due to weather and played later in the season, although that game was called off just an hour before kick-off.
There have been considerable issues with the Scotstoun pitch – a surface originally intended solely for athletics – since Glasgow moved there four years ago. The entire surface was relaid before the start of last season, but problems with water retention have returned during the current season.