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CARDIFF Blues want to rip up the hallowed Arms Park turf and install an artificial pitch in time for next season.

The capital city region are trying to secure the £500,000 needed to lay the same state-of-the-art 4G surface used by Saracens at their new Allianz Stadium home, and will press ahead with the plan this summer if successful.

The Blues, who were Sarries’ first opponents at the Allianz for an LV Cup game in January, feel a plastic pitch will better suit the fast, fluid style director of rugby Phil Davies wants to develop.

And they also say it would benefit all levels of the game as well as the community at large, not just Davies’ first team.

But it would represent a major first for the game in Wales, with a first elite team playing on an astroturf surface.

“We have met with companies who could install it and we are now looking at ways of potentially financing it,” said Blues chief executive Richard Holland.

“It would be amazing for the Blues, for Cardiff RFC and potentially for the wider community as well because it would be available to use 365 days of the year.

“We could also hold non-rugby events on it.

“So yes, meetings are taking place, and yes, we have a desire to do this.

“Will it happen? I can’t say for sure at the moment because it depends on the finance. But the way the Arms Park pitch is in the winter months, well, we are aware of the quality of the spectacle for our paying public who don’t want to see 30 blokes rolling around in the mud.

“We played on Saracens’ pitch earlier this season and were hugely impressed.

“I would like to see this happen sooner rather than later.”

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While the Blues are actively pursuing a move to 4G, Welsh Rugby Union chief executive Roger Lewis has already said the same option is being considered for the Millennium Stadium.

Keeping the current portable grass surface in tip-top condition has been a major challenge for the WRU since the stadium was opened in 1999, with conditions inside the arena not conducive to growth.

There has been a history of problems during rugby matches, with turf being torn up in chunks under the weight of scrums, something that affected Six Nations matches at other grounds this season.

And the WRU regards player safety as a major incentive for any possible move to plastic in the near future.

Meanwhile, if the WRU ends up buying the adjacent Cardiff Arms Park off landlords Cardiff Athletic Club, and a new 15,000-seater stadium mooted for the site goes ahead, the Blues’ 4G pitch could be put in storage while construction of the venue is carried out.