Six Nations 2014: England"s Twickenham pitch "the best in world rugby" despite ...

“I would actually say it is in better condition that it was last year. It has

been a learning curve from the previous pitch we had to the brand new pitch

but we are getting to grips with it better now.”

Kent said the key adjustment his team have had to make given the record

rainfall is to increase the amount of fertiliser and the frequency of its

distribution to the pitch, which contains three per cent artificial grass.

“We have a rain gauge at the pitch and we measure the water and there have

been two mornings when we have come in and there have been 15 millimetres of

rain,” Kent added.

“The light bulb moment that we had was that because it drains so well, as well

as draining water it is also leaching nutrients as well.

“So we have had to step up the fertiliser programme. If we have had two inches

of rain during the week, we have had to put another fertiliser on because it

goes. We are using a third more fertiliser than we would have this time last

year.”

Kent admitted that the nematode parasites that damaged the Murrayfield pitch

were also in the Twickenham surface, but at safe levels. “The thing to

remember is that nematodes are in every soil and sand. We have had our pitch

tested twice this season and we have got a very low count of them so at the

moment OK,” he added.

Despite the inclement conditions, Kent said he intended to cut the grass

shorter than last season, to 33 millimetres in height, in time for kick-off

next Saturday.

“Because of the amount of rain we are having, we are cutting it when we can

and because it is so mild, we are cutting it as short as we can,” Kent added.

“We will cut it on a Tuesday after training and then we will double cut on a

Friday and then weather-permitting we will cut it again on Saturday morning

to tart it up so that it is the best pitch in the world in what is the best

competition on the world.”

Article source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/24596616

Six Nations 2014: England"s Twickenham pitch "the best in world rugby" despite ...