Winter Sports - Rugby Union
Report by Keith Kent, Head Groundsman, RFU Twickenham 1st Team Pitch
On a very bright, sunny afternoon we pulled into the car park to be greeted by a very well presented pitch in front of us! It was looking, from afar, well striped out and with good grass coverage. The pitch had, in fact, only been seeded for four weeks, but the take-up of grass was very encouraging.
I walked the pitch with John Heyworth who looks after the pitches here and is doing a very good job of it.
The grass had been seeded with a really good seed mixture and the results were there to be seen. I could see the different seed runs full of young seed. For only four weeks old, John and I were very pleased with it.
The pitch had also been sand banded this summer to open up the top again as it had, at times, held more water than John would have liked. The pitch had also been topdressed and the whole of the field looked that much better for it.
John had fed the pitch with a 9:7:7 and the hungry rye grass was certainly taking that nutrient up into the plant. Fertiliser is so important to the wellbeing of a pitch. I recommended that he fertilise the pitch again in August using a 10:4:4. With the amount of rainfall in this area, the nutrients will be leeching through and I feel that the young grass will need a boost just prior to the season kicking off.
Then, during the autumn, I recommended that he should fertilise all the pitches with an autumn/winter feed of 4:10:10 to help the plant get through the long dark days of winter.
The pitch had been aerated on four occasions this past year. This is excellent and a practice that is to be followed year on year. Aeration is the key to having a good pitch. You must keep the top as open as you can to prevent any repeat of the waterlogging that took place in front of the grandstand a while back. The amount of good that it does is immeasurable. Please do keep up the good work with the Soil reliever.
If John could time his autumn feed to be at the same time as his autumn aeration, the effects would be that much better.
John is quite rightly proud of this pitch, and so he should be. The club must never stop spending the amount of time and money that they spend at this present time, otherwise it will be a false saving as the pitch would surely go downhill.
The Training Pitches
Both pitches are in good condition and both have been sand topdressed. The sand is important at this time of the year as it refreshes the whole of the top playing surface. Allied with aeration, this is just what these pitches need. The grass coverage is good and there is to be a cricket match played on it!
The same as the 1st team pitch please, look to aerate and fertilise in late September/October and the pitches will play that much better.
The biggest problem that the club have with these pitches is that they undulate and hold water during the winter in the low spots and prevent play. The club have had a visit and I believe a report from Mike Harbridge of PSD Agronomy. I have known Mike for many a year and he will give you a good report and would advise you wisely.
A really good club with a really good pitch that is well looked after and cared for. Well done on the presentation and please carry that detail into the new season and beyond.
Keith Kent, Head Groundsman, RFU 52 I PC APRIL/MAY 2014
A borrowed five tonne topdresser behind RFU Cumbria’s SDF Agroplus tractor
“The grass is cut at about 75mm for
winter matches using a Trimax triple rotary, 2180mm wide, towed behind our Massey Ferguson 1560 tractor, which was purchased new in 2003. If matches are in May, and coincide with good conditions then we might bring it down to 40-50mm, and also in August and early September if the weather has been kind. But, we’ll normally be back up at 75mm by mid September.” “We generally stripe in parallel lines
lengthwise, but sometimes across if the occasion, time and pitch condition allow. We don’t mow after matches, except in the fast growing season in May and June, but we ensure that we mow in alternate directions every four to five days.” “We carry out aeration using RFU Cumbria’s SR75 Soil Reliever as often as weather, pitch conditions and my time allow, but at least four times between April and September. This equipment is housed at the club for hire to any Cumbrian Rugby Union clubs at discounted rates - and anybody else at slightly higher rates. Transport is the prohibitive issue in Cumbria.”
Other equipment available to the
groundstaff include a Hardi 6m sprayer which is only used on the training pitches for weed control. The 1st XV pitch is spot treated as required, that included, during the wet summer of 2012, a serious infestation of red thread which was treated with the appropriate fungicide. “We are able to borrow a tractor-
towed hybrid Dutch disc overseeder from a local farmer on occasion,” continues John, “but one of the most used machines, apart from the tractor and mower, is our Sisis Quadraplay which is equipped with adjustable height rotary spiker, spring tine harrow, roller and brush, which we use frequently, in that order, to flatten divots and, in the off season, to brush in sand topdressing. Again, we are fortunate to borrow a five tonne topdresser from a local agricultural contractor, but this is pulled by RFU
Cumbria’s SDF Agroplus 65 tractor. Sand is obtained from a local quarry owned by a club sponsor.” A Vicon 300kg fertiliser spreader
completes the equipment list. This is used a couple of times a year, occasionally more if the sward requires. Two volunteers are trained to
operate the tractor and associated equipment, one being John. Very occasionally, players or students may operate them under strict supervision. Machinery is serviced by Aspatria
Farmers Ltd., the “serious stuff” as John calls it. Day to day maintenance is carried out by their retired mechanical engineer. The company also supply their amenity requirements. “They are one of our sponsors, so it is important that we support them in return,” says John.
On a site that is “normally breezy with occasional ‘horizontal’ rain”, are there any other issues John has to contend with? “The area immediately in front of the stand remains frozen for longer periods, and rabbits and moles come in from adjacent fields. I have a ‘friendly’ pest exterminator who traps moles and shoots rabbits. Anti-rabbit fence has been installed by Network Rail along the adjacent railway embankment, which is basically just a warren!” As is often the case with volunteer run clubs - only the bar manager and rugby coach are paid part-time - there is always much to do. “Our top priority is to replace the leaking, thirty-year old flat roof on the clubhouse with a pitched design. Our problem, as always, is lack of capital, but we are applying to Sport England for funding. We are also working with the RFU on upgrading the interior of the clubhouse using the RFU’s Social Spaces programme. This project is expected to cost in the region of £30,000.” “We would also like to install
drainage on our 1st XV pitch using the same system as on the training pitches. Turfdry have provided a budget cost of
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