Winter Sports - Rugby Union
to the pitch, there’s a great match atmosphere. However, the management also wanted to be sure that the new playing surface was hard wearing and durable, whilst remaining flexible and player friendly.”
Having visited and spoken with other stadium and grounds managers, the team opted to build its brand-new pitch in 2008 using Mansfield Sand’s Fibrelastic system laid on top of undersoil heating, drainage and irrigation pipes located a minimum of 250mm below the surface. Comprising 100 percent natural turf, grown on a rootzone of sand and organic matter reinforced with polypropylene and elastane fibres, Fibrelastic is designed to provide increased rootzone coherence and stability, helping boost grip and reduce surface disturbance. A highlighted further benefit of incorporating fibres into the rootzone is a decrease in surface hardness, with a subsequent reduction in the level of impact jarring and potential player limb damage.
Head Groundsman, Luke Jenkins, says that he does a lot of thinking and planning on the tractor’s driving seat
very short time, the advantages of having a resilient pitch”
very important to me and I realised, in a
maintenance and care of sportsturf suddenly became
“The proper
Until October 2010, Luke had been primarily an interested observer of the pitch. That situation changed overnight when he secured the post of assistant groundsman. “The proper maintenance and
care of sportsturf suddenly became very important to me and I realised, in a very short time, the advantages of having a resilient pitch that retains its integrity, resisting damage and promoting fast recovery and good health,” he said. “Between August and May the following year, the main stadium pitch was used around eighty times for various purposes, half of which were either competitive rugby or football matches. Rapid recovery proved both essential and achievable, thanks mainly to its method of construction.” Luke recalls that end-of-season
pitch renovations in the summer of 2011 proved quite straightforward,
comprising tine aeration, scarification and overseeding. It was a somewhat different story on the training ground. Although the training ground has
experienced far higher seasonal use than the main stadium from the day the complex opened back in 2008, a combination of Mansfield Sand’s Fibresand construction, good airflow and no shading by stands has helped promote fast turf recovery at lower levels of maintenance.
Even so, it was decided, in 2011, that the surface would benefit from renewal, so the turf was stripped off by fraise-mower, followed by cultivation, seeding and top dressing. Luke said that the action had paid dividends, producing a healthy and consistent sward, thanks to the 24-head in-pitch irrigation system which, in common with the main stadium’s system, has proved an excellent management tool over the six years since the complex was completed. In September 2011, with his assistant, Jack Davies, in place, Luke was able to start a two-year part-time course at Bridgend College, Pencoed, studying two days a month towards a Level 2 Diploma in Work-based Horticulture (Sports Turf). The knowledge he gained on the course, plus the practical experience accumulated since he first took up his post, proved invaluable in December 2011 when Luke first noticed a problem with the main stadium pitch. “We were in the middle of a very busy match schedule, with three games taking place over five days,” he said. “I was rolling the turf using one of our walk-behind Dennis G860 mowers and noticed that the surface felt harder than normal, which was unusual for a Fibrelastic pitch.”
Seeking advice from Dave
Healey, Luke peeled back a strip of turf and discovered an anaerobic black layer of compacted soil and organic matter immediately below
Assistant Groundsman, Jack Davies, cuts and rolls the pitch on the morning of a match
22 PC FEBRUARY/MARCH 2014
Full renovation of the pitch was carried out in June 2012, restoring the top-class playing surface built on a Fibrelastic base
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