LED lights cast shadow over stadium game
Taranaki won the match on Friday night, but the sidelines seemed to be the brightest areas of the ground
Yarrow Stadium’s new LED lights have become a talking point after the Bulls’ 34-24 win against Manawatu – but not for the reason venue owner the Taranaki Regional Council would want.
The new bulbs, part of the stadium’s $70 million revamp, are supposedly 50% brighter and use 30% less power than those they replaced on the four towers surrounding the pitch.
But on Friday night they cast obvious shadows across the turf, with pockets of darkness including a large patch in the middle of the field and in the in-goals.
Not all the lights on the towers were turned on and the sidelines seemed to be the brightest areas of the ground.
This may have raised eyebrows for the competition’s broadcaster Sky Television. Evening matches must be played under a certain illuminance level (lux).
Minimum club rugby lux level is 160, with the Rugby World Cup level at 1500, which is what the previous lights at Yarrow Stadium were to host matches during the 2011 World Cup.
While it is not yet known what the lux level was on Friday night, it was also clear on the coverage that the ground was unusually darker.
Peter Moffitt was watching the game on TV at home in Oakura and said it looked more like training lights than game lighting.
‘‘It was quite noticeable,’’ he said. ‘‘There were four distinct shadows that the players cast. There seemed to be some dull patches.
‘‘I thought, what’s going on here?’’
Other fans took to social media to express their concern.
The Taranaki Regional Council has been approached for comment.
Meanwhile, Taranaki started the game strongly with a 21-5 lead after 25 minutes.
It included two tries from Kini Naholo and one from wing Vereniki Tikoisolomone, which sparked some excitement in Taranaki’s backline rarely seen this year.
Manawatu came back in with two first-half tries.
The home side lead 28-15 at the break with a late try to Ricky Riccitelli.
Manawatu had a lot of the ball in the second half, which slowed down as the error rate increased. They managed to score two tries to replacement hooker Ben Strange and wing Tima Fainga’anuku on fulltime.
Taranaki’s Daniel Waite landed two second-half penalties, in a 100% record for the game.
The Bulls snapped a threematch losing streak and claimed their second win of the season.
They have a quick turnaround before playing Counties Manukau at Yarrow Stadium on Wednesday night.