Winter Sports - Rugby


The impressive main entrance with stunning floral display


same pitch for two vastly different sports ‐ rugby and showjumping, not to mention the concerts that are held there as well. Alan Ryan helps Gary maintain the pitches. Larger jobs, such as topdressing, spraying and fraize mowing, are contracted out.


The pitch in the RDS main arena is used mainly for the Leinster team’s home matches. Winners of three Heineken Cup titles, Leinster have trained and played at the RDS since 2005. Previous to that, they occupied the grounds at Donnybrook Stadium. The only time they don’t play a home game at the RDS is when large crowds are expected; usually at the final and semi final stages of tournaments (seating capacity at the RDS is 18,500). In these situations, they hold their home games at the nearby Aviva Stadium.


“ The year from beginning to end


At the beginning of each year, Gary finds himself in the middle of the Guinness Pro14 rugby season. Pressure in getting the pitch in perfect condition mounts as the championship has already reached the halfway stage. From now on, every point earned for the home team is crucial. When the last rugby match of the season finishes, usually in early May, depending on how Leinster progress in the tournament, the fraize mower is hired to rip out the old turf. Then the pitch is verti‐drained, topdressed and overseeded. The stands behind the goals are also taken down at this time. This year, Gary had to contend with the Justin Bieber concert that was scheduled for 21st June. He had a seven week window


to get this work done and have a healthy sward ahead of the concert. An application of a slow release fertilizer (28:5:5 + iron) was given to help the grass recover in time. A couple of days before the concert, Terraplast was laid over the pitch. This is a white plastic cover that protects the pitch from wear and tear from concert goers. One of the properties of this material is that it lets sunlight through to the grass, which helps the turf survive the four days it is covered for the concert. Gary tells me that, when they removed the Terraplast, the grass was a little hungry and yellow. “It was time for a quick feed of 9:7:7,” says Gary. As well as the Terraplast removal, the concert stage had to be dismantled and taken away. When this was done, the area of


During the five days of competitions, Gary and his team work around the clock. The jump areas in the main arena have to be repaired after each round of


competitions


60 I PC DECEMBER/JANUARY 2018


Alan Ryan (left) and Gary Deakins


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