What kind of cleats are the best?

What kind of cleats are best for astroturf?

• I play rugby on an astroturf field. I usually will play lock or flanker, but sometimes will move out to the backline (im actually kind of hoping to eventually make it out there permanently). What kind of cleat would be best? I was told blades are great, but I was also thinking of buying rugby specific shoes. Thanks

• Answer:

  There actually are synthetic grass specific soccer cleats available (mostly outside the US,) but as far as I know, all rugby-specific boots are all screw-ins, which are considered soft-ground boots. The sole types for cleats are usually designated as follows: SG: Soft Ground, usually screw-ins. You can't use these on synthetic grass; aside from them usually being forbidden on synthetic grass pitches, they can catch in the underlayer and cause you to injure yourself. All the rugby-specific boots, with hardened toe boxes and mid-cuts, are these type. FG: Firm Ground, molded plastic blades. You can use these on synthetic grass. Probably the most popular sole type. I've only found a couple Adidas rugby-specific boot with an FG sole type, but they're earlier versions and so there are only a few pairs floating around as sale items or on ebay. AG: Artificial Ground (sometimes used as All Ground.) Very similar to FGs, but the sole and blades are of a softer material, and the blade pattern is different (at least it is on mine.) HG: Hard Ground, usually softer, low-profile cleats. Some of Puma's HG models (King XL, for instance) have gotten good reviews when used on synthetic grass, but I'm skeptical they grip enough, especially for a forward. TF: Turf, lots of little rubber nubs. For astro-turf and other short-length synthetic materials. I doubt these will provide enough traction for rugby. I could only find (1) Adidas AG shoe and a few Nike AG shoes available online for sale in the US. I ended up ordering a pair of Adidas Predator Absolion AGs from pro-direct rugby. Aside from some credit card verification issues, and the long-ish delivery time, it was relatively painless, and they have the best selection of AG cleats I've found online, so far. So, it's kind of a crappy situation for ruggers playing on synthetic grass, at the moment; you basically are stuck using FG or AG type shoes, and they're all soccer shoes, so no mid-cuts or hard toes.