World Cup organisers say they are confident that London’s Olympic Stadium will be ready to host the first of five scheduled games in the tournament when France meet Romania on 23 September.
Saturday’s high-profile match between Samoa, a key threat to Scotland’s chances of progress in Pool B, and the Barbarians was the first rugby union match at the stadium that will be West Ham’s home next season. But the Barbarians’ 27-24 win, watched by 41,039 spectators, highlighted a number of teething problems.
During the first half four sprinklers under the pitch sprayed jets of water into the air, providing a couple of comic minutes for the crowd but annoying the Samoans, who had just conceded one of five tries, in particular. There were a number of complaints from spectators, from a lack of Wi-Fi, no beer and poor views of the pitch from seats high in the stand. A number of fans also complained about the length of queues for tickets and some paying spectators were bemused that their seat tickets were occupied by press seats. The stadium will host four pool matches next month and a third-fourth place game on 30 October, the eve of the final at Twickenham.
A World Cup spokeswoman said: “The stadium is in mid-transformation and unfortunately a minor technical fault with the timer system led to the sprinklers coming on. It was resolved quickly and the fault will be investigated to ensure it doesn’t happen again. That is why we have test events, to test and learn. We are confident that the stadium will be a great World Cup venue next month.”
Carl Hayman, the former All Blacks prop who played for the Barbarians, added: “It’s an impressive stadium and it has a great future as a venue. Apart from the sprinklers going off there were no complaints from me. One of two of us enjoyed the extra shower.”
There was fallout, too, from the match for Samoa, who had been preparing in Brighton for the last week. Their Newcastle lock Kane Thompson may miss the start of the World Cup in three weeks’ time after being sent off by the referee, John Lacey, for a punch on the Australian hooker Saia Fainga’a. Thompson is expected to face a disciplinary committee this week and a four-week ban would rule him out of Samoa’s opening World Cup fixture against the United States in Brighton on 20 September.
The former Wasps and Samoa lock Dan Leo, a spectator at Saturday’s match, said: “We can’t really afford to lose someone of his experience at this stage.” Samoa’s head coach, Stephen Betham, added: “The sending-off was a bit disappointing and a bit harsh but we can’t use it as an excuse. Some individuals played well but we have a lot to work on before the tournament starts.” Betham indicated that he would make changes for a warm-up against Wasps next weekend after their defeat by an impressive Barbarians side, much improved after their heavy defeat by England three months ago.