“I like to think of the pitch as our 16th man,” says Jim Buttar, Twickenham’s head groundsman.
The stadium is empty for now, save for a few visitors on a tour and Buttar’s six-strong team pushing their mowers back and forth across the immaculate turf, following string lines across the pitch to ensure immaculate stripes ahead of England’s Six Nations match against France on Saturday.
Aside from the gentle hum of the mowers, it is eerily quiet. The calm before the storm. Dotted across the pitch are six ‘turf pods’ monitoring soil temperature, soil moisture, air temperature, relative humidity, salinity, and PAR light – which is essentially the light that comes into the stadium that promotes photosynthesis.
Every 60 seconds the pods send data to an app on Buttar’s phone that provides a ‘heat map’ of the pitch, highlighting any areas of significant differences.
“It shows us the peaks and troughs for soil temperature,” he says. “Currently we are at 16.8 degrees, which I am pleased with. We have created a condition that is good for the grass to grow. If there is a high level of humidity for a sustained period, then there is a risk of disease outbreak. Sometimes that can just be the conditions.
“If we are irrigating and we know that one area of the pitch is slightly drier, then we can increase the amount of water that goes to that area,” he adds.
The amount of moisture in the soil is not just critical for the growth of the grass, but also for two key measurements that affect the performance and safety of the players.
Buttar produces two pieces of equipment, a torque wrench and a ‘field marshal’.
He explains that the torque wrench measures the traction of the surface and that the ideal measurement for Saturday’s game is between 40 and 50 Newton metres.
Player safety paramount in pitch preparation
“What we don’t want is a low number because essentially that means that the surface is ‘loose’ so when a player goes to turn, their full turn is quick and that can lead to ligament damage, muscle damage and tendon damage,” he adds. “We also don’t want a number that is too high because that means when a player goes to turn, the boot doesn’t turn but everything else does and that can lead to similar injury problems. We will test the surface in the days leading up to the game to make sure there are no surprises and again on match day.”
The second piece of equipment, says Buttar, has the scientific name of ‘advanced artificial athlete’ or ‘triple A’ for short. It was first created to test the artificial surfaces but has since been adapted to measure the turf. A hammer inside the machine will impact the surface three times to take an average reading across 15 locations to test energy restitution, shock absorbency, and impact hardness. In layman’s terms, that measures whether a surface is regarded as a ‘fast track.’
“Again, we are looking for a measurement within a certain range for what we would class to be the optimum for a player to use,” he adds. “Essentially, that is what a surface can give back to a player. If a player is running, they are putting energy into the surface and depending on what the construction is, they will get some of that energy back up, which means they don’t have to work as hard.
“If they were on a heavier type of field that was soft, the player might think it is good for their joints but actually then it is all the muscles that are doing all the work. So they are going to have to do the full action movement of running. Whereas on a surface like this, which is firm, it is helping them perform for longer.”
Buttar, who joined the RFU in 2019 after 11 years as head groundsman at Tottenham Hotspur’s White Hart Lane, runs his hand through the seemingly pristine grass on the pitch when he spots a few blades that are longer than others. “You probably can’t see them but that is the sort of thing I notice,” he says.
Come match day, there are unlikely to be any imperfections. The England team may be struggling for results, but the Twickenham surface is widely regarded as the finest in the world.
The hybrid surface was first installed in 2012 at a cost of £1.2 million. Undersoil heating and irrigation (up to 600 cubic metres of water) under the surface were installed after contractors dug out 18 inches of soil – 9,000 tonnes in total. The top four inches under the turf are a mix of sand and minerals, with a further eight inches of sand underneath and then below the undersoil heating pipe are a further eight inches of stone.
Three per cent of the surface is artificial ‘grass’, to provide support for the natural surface, which is made up of perennial ryegrass which Buttar says is well-suited to the UK’s temperate climate type as it performs well in both cool and warm conditions.
The turf consists of a mixture of about eight different ryegrass varieties, each serving a specific purpose. Approximately 40 per cent of the grass population is made up of tetraploid rye grasses, which have been genetically modified to enhance certain growth characteristics.
‘We do exactly the same as the coaches – we are doing strength and conditioning’
Buttar says tetraploids tend to root deeper and germinate quicker, even at temperatures as low as 4 degrees Celsius. The remaining 60 per cent consists of diploid rye grasses to create a resilient, high-performing turf.
“We regularly review and adjust the seed mixture based on performance, availability, and specific needs,” he adds. “We consider factors such as disease resistance, growth rate, and how well each variety handles the unique stadium environment.”
Planning for the pitch preparation for Saturday’s game began in mid-December and has been adapted since then depending on the weather forecast.
“We are working with something that is a live organism and trying to treat it in a way that it is getting everything at the right time,” adds Buttar, who is also on the board of the Grounds Management Association, a not-for-profit dedicated to supporting grounds staff at all levels.
“We as a team do exactly the same as the coaches do for the team, we are doing strength and conditioning, we are getting it prepped and ready to perform going into Test week.
“Six weeks prior to the Test match, we will be starting to work through all of our nutritional programs, which is probably the biggest one, is actually just making sure that we’re getting the right elements and nutrition into the pitch. We use nitrate-based fertilizers in late winter and early spring when temperatures are still low as part of a balanced nutritional programme that also includes other elements like phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, and iron.”
Grow lights are used during the night to provide consistent light for grass growth (every 24 hours out of 48), as natural light is restricted because of the height of the stands. The perfect growing conditions means that the surface is mown twice a day to maintain a height of 30mm. In the height of summer, the grass cuttings will fill a 1100-litre wheelie bin.
The presentation piece is just as important. On Saturday, Buttar and his team will be in the stadium at 6.30am, including volunteers from grassroots clubs to help mow the surface ahead of the 4.45pm kick-off to ensure the stripes are inch-perfect.
“We will cut the surface twice and white lines will be double marked so they are nice and white,” he adds.
“I like to think the pitch is the jewel in our crown. Our goal is for anyone walking through the stadium or watching on TV to be blown away by the appearance of the pitch.”
