18/08/2026
This rugby pitch is a heavily used playing surface in one of the most visible locations in the city, with thousands of students, staff and visitors passing through College Park every day.
The pitch was originally constructed using a fibre-reinforced rootzone, but the ongoing maintenance approach has involved topdressing with a specific gritty sports-field sand — something a little different from the more typical medium/coarse sports-field topdressing sands.
For this renovation, our approach involved:
🌱 Lightly fraze mowing the existing surface
♻️ Using the Top Dress Recycler to bring some of the existing rootzone material back to the surface
🚜 Topdressing with additional imported material
🌾 Seeding the completed surface
✂️ Carefully managing the pitch throughout the grow-in period
An interesting part of the grow-in is that much of the routine cutting is being handled by the on-site FJD FRX robotic mower, while the day-to-day maintenance and establishment of the pitch is monitored and managed by our fulltime on-site groundsman.
A slightly different renovation approach for a unique, high-profile playing surface — now it’s all about giving the new grass the conditions it needs to establish. 👌🌱
