The Sydney Cricket Ground is not up to hosting rugby union matches

Get the wrecking balls and the bulldozers into Allianz Stadium right away because there’s not another minute to waste after the disgraceful turf served up on Saturday night.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - MARCH 09: Players replace divots after a scrum during the round four Super Rugby match between the NSW Waratahs and the Queensland Reds at the Sydney Cricket Ground on March 09, 2019 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

• WINNERS: Tahs do it the ugly way

• LOSERS: Bravery is not enough for Reds

Get the wrecking balls and the bulldozers into Allianz Stadium right away because there’s not another minute to waste.

As wonderful as the Sydney Cricket Ground is for cricket and AFL, the old girl’s just a dud as a rugby venue.

Not even the decision to switch the playing field from its traditional north-south direction to east-west can alter the fact that when you fit a rectangle into a giant oval, there’s acres of space left over so spectators need binoculars just to see the game.

Perhaps that’s why only 15,681 turned up to watch the match against Queensland, our oldest and fiercest rivals, less than 17,111 that turned out to see the Waratahs play the Hurricanes at Brookvale Oval last month.

Please replace your divots. Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images,

It wasn’t just the numbers that were lower. Unlike Brookie, which was bursting at the seams, the atmosphere at the SCG was as flat as a fifth day pitch, even with the Waratahs winning.

Even more worrying was the state of the playing pitch, which was nothing short of embarrassing.

Almost every time the teams packed down for a scrum, the turf crumbled to pieces under their feet, leaving more divots and sand than Augusta National,

It got so bad that the groundsman had to come on to the field rakes and shovels to repair the damage which couldn’t have looked any worse than if the circus had pitched a tent on the SCG.

The turf was ripped up at every scrum. Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images.

The sooner the Allianz Stadium rebuilt is finished the better because Sydney needs a better ground that this to play rugby on but the Waratahs also need to find a short term solution to avoid a repeat of this fiasco.

NSW Rugby wants to take the show on road and in addition to the match already played at Brookvale Oval, has secured another match at Newcastle and three at the new Western Sydney Stadium in Parramatta.

They see playing in the suburbs and taking the game around the state as the best way to reconnect with fans but are already locked in to playing two more at the SCG this season, against the Crusaders and the Rebels, so can only hope it turns out better.