England Rugby 2015 Campaign
As the HMS Temeraire/HMNB Portsmouth lead applicant, we received our first visit from England Rugby 2015 on Tuesday as part of our World Cup Team Base campaign. Unknowingly this was the 1st of 80 programmed visits by ER 2015 in response to the received questionnaires as part of the tender process. The three main objectives of the Team Base assessment visit was to:
- To meet the key personnel involved in the application, those who know the facilities well and to introduce the key ER 2015 personnel who will be involved in the Team Base programme as they move towards the tournament. For the ER 2015 staff to answer any questions or concerns and provide clarity on any matters where required. The RFU Area Facility Manager also attended providing advice and guidance to ground staff.
- To validate the technical specifications provided in the tender response questionnaire. The visit was also chance for ER 2015 to review the team base facilities and to confirm if it currently does (or will in the future) meet the requirements of an international team.
- An assessment visit to provide ER 2015 with an opportunity to begin their planning of how the base might work operationally, should the team base be selected, for example spaces or areas that would be used by the visiting team, where will the team bus park, what security measures would be in place.
Below is a extract from the RFU intranet which was posted after the visit on Tuesday:
"The Rugby World Cup 2015 Team Base assessment visits get underway with the first one at HMS Temeraire, Portsmouth at 09:00. Fantastic facility, great people and a really good first visit to get us off the mark...Big thanks to Ady Cherrington for being a brilliant host to myself, Fran Leighton (ER 2015), Jason Bowers and Rick Bruin (RFU) 1 down, 79 to go!!"