J Premier Pitch grass seed used at Rugby World Cup venue

Leicester City's King Power Stadium has been chosen to host some of the Rugby World Cup matches. Head Groundsman John Ledwidge has been at Leicester since 2014. In addition to the main pitch, John and his team of 7 are responsible for the 7½ pitches at the training ground. John has used Johnsons J Premier Pitch everywhere he’s been, “It’s tried and tested,” he says, “I trust it to do what it says on the tin.”

“With the playing schedule we’ve been given,” explains John, “the pitch will be subjected to a lot of wear from a completely different species of player – from a ‘twinkle toes’ Footballer to an 18 stone brute force machine of a Rugby player! This means it is so important to use seed you can trust will deliver when it comes to it. Because of the known recovery of J Premier Pitch I have piece of mind that we be able to turn the pitch around as 9 days after our last Rugby match we’ve got our first football game. It’s going to be hectic but the whole team is up for the challenge.”

J Premier Pitch was sown in the summer, bringing them on a month earlier than they normally would to make sure the surface is as strong as possible going into the schedule. John said: “I’m hoping the weather will be fair to us, although with the pitch of a sand based Desso construction it is well versed if it rains and does drain relatively freely. The main challenge will be to keep the plant strong, healthy and maintain grass cover. With football it is essential to ensure that the grass cover is good, but with rugby it is not quite so imperative because the ball isn’t played on the ground. DLF’s Roger Peacock is our area specialist and calls in from time to time to check everything is going okay and to admire our handiwork! It’s good just to have him there should you need any advice on the seed.”