Canterbury's dominance of the national provincial rugby championship and its success in winning the Ranfurly Shield has meant delays in the redevelopment of Jade Stadium.

Already the Shield success has seen the demolition of the ground's famous embankment held off for two weeks to accommodate the big crowd, which was successfully anticipated for last weekend's defence against Otago.

With that behind it, Canterbury has finished in one of the two top positions in the provincial championship and will host one of the semi-finals in 10 days time.

But such is the scheduling for construction works at the ground that demolition can no longer be held up.

So the Jade Stadium administration has decided to demolish only half the embankment to cater for the big crowd expected for the semi-final.

Jade Stadium chief executive Bryn McGoldrick said it is intended the new stand on the west side of the ground will be ready for a prospective Test against the touring England cricket team in February 2002 and the Super 12 rugby series of that year.

The southern end of the ground has already been developed with the 6750-seat uncovered stand, which is expected to be a big favourite with cricket fans.

"It is a fantastic cricket stand and it will be beautiful sitting out there in the sun. At the rear of that stand we will have our video replay screen by 2002," McGoldrick said.

The stand on the western side will house 17,000 spectators and include 38 corporate suites. It will be four stories high with the highest point being 38m above the playing surface.

"Instead of building stands out as they used to, they now build them up," McGoldrick said.

To accommodate the rugby playing area with more effect, the rugby pitch will be moved by 18 degrees. The cricket pitch area will remain as it is.

Once the western stand is completed, the older Main and No 1 stands on the eastern side of the ground will be demolished as soon as possible.

That exercise could well depend on how long Canterbury holds the Ranfurly Shield, a traditional money-spinner for all unions that have long tenures with the trophy.

McGoldrick said he would be very pleased to see the embankment go from the ground.

The need for change was driven by the New Zealand Rugby Football Union's decision that embankments were no longer an acceptable part of stadia and those that still had them wouldn't get A-category rugby Tests.

Removing the embankment would improve security aspects.

McGoldrick compared the bottle-throwing incident at the end of this year's Bledisloe Cup rugby test in Wellington's WestpacTrust Stadium with what would happen on the embankment in Christchurch.

"They tracked down the person who did that, and when you catch one person you can usually get two or three others. But you couldn't do that on the embankment, it would just swallow people up," he said.

The shade cast on the west side of the ground by such a high building, especially during the winter, is causing some serious thinking about turf management and growing grass in shaded areas.

Part of the area behind the new southern stand is being used to trial grass growth in that fashion.

When the west stand is completed there will be 70 corporate suites to sell and McGoldrick believes there will be no problem selling them off.

Support would come from sufficient corporate interests in Canterbury and from syndicates who would look to purchase boxes. While syndicates were not favoured in some stadia, McGoldrick said he did not have a problem with them.

© CricInfo