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RUGBY UNION


I’ll start dialling it in now and have a better understanding of the environment that it’s growing in as well





because, obviously, it’s a big stadium and it’s not the most hospitable for grass growing


Autumn Internationals, so I’ve had an elongated introduction into having fixtures here. We’ve only had two, Barbarians vs Fiji in November and Harlequins vs Leicester Tigers at the end of 2019, so it’s been quite nice to see how the pitch reacts to what I’ve done in terms of inputs and how it performs.”


“I’ll start dialling it in now and have a better understanding of the environment that it’s growing in as well because, obviously, it’s a big stadium and it’s not the most hospitable for grass growing. Like a lot of others, there are certain microclimates; some are similar, and some are a little bit different. I’ve noticed, with the stadium being as big as it is, that it’s actually quite windy. At this time of year, it’s quite difficult for feeding and spraying applications. Again, you start to understand what the boundaries are with regards to working and, at this time of year, we have to constantly monitor wind speeds and directions so we can determine the best time to carry out a spray or feed application.”


“I have a fundamental way of working, which is an ethos as it were. I know I feel comfortable working within a certain


It’s all part of my management approach and I think a lot of





groundsmen kind of adopt the same thing, and it’s that we are all trying to manage turf health


72 PC February/March 2020


schedule and I’ve got a way of personally working with the guys, and things like that, and I’m very happy with how it works. I’ve been able to replicate it at different places, and it seems to be quite positive feedback in terms of how that’s all worked. There will be things that work best here in terms of Twickenham itself as a venue, and some of what I want to introduce won’t work as well as planned for whatever reason, so I think there’s lots of sharing of knowledge, ideas and experiences.” “It’s all part of my management approach and I think a lot of groundsmen kind of adopt the same thing, and it’s that we are all trying to manage turf health. We’re trying to limit the peaks and troughs because, inherently, you end up getting other problems which will impact playing performance. Normally that’s disease, and pitches never perform very well if they’re quite lush from badly timed nitrogen input, so you’re always trying to work out what the best growing pattern will be for that particular venue. That depends on usage, and again going through that process and that ethos, I’ve got a very layered approach with regards to the nutritional input, the


basis being that it’s dialling it in for the right times.” “People can come in here up to two


weeks after a fixture has been played and the pitch won’t look in great conditions, but there’s a reason for that. It’s all a part of the recovery, and I won’t be mowing patterns in or anything like that, I’ll be allowing the grass to stand up and be as natural as possible. And then, as we start working towards a fixture, that’s when we start to improve that aesthetic and then it’s what we do in terms of turf health, what sorts of inputs we put in specifically for it to be able to handle that usage.” “It’s a good venue for that approach because you can give the pitch that time between fixtures. And again, rugby is not hugely in need of moisture management in the sense that it doesn’t need it for playability, so again my moisture management is now for turf health rather than the actual playability, so that’s really helped. We haven’t had to have this whole thing of watering an hour before kick-off and at half-time, all that’s gone and, in that sense, being here has been very useful.” Experience and age have contributed to


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