Tainton hails 'world class' training facility

'A massive boost'

The state-of-the-art facility welcomed players and staff for stage two of rugby union’s return to play training process – although it is yet to be completed fully - and the CEO says it provides ‘a massive boost’ for the Bears.

"When you drive down the long driveway, through the trees and get the first sight of the building, it takes you aback. I’ve been blown away - and I’ve been working on it every week for the last year. For the players to see it finished, or nearly finished, it’s amazing – they’re delighted, and they were blown away too.

“It’s a massive boost to everyone involved in the club that we’ve come to this new facility – and in fairness to the main construction company, Beard, they’ve done a tremendous job.

“I’d also like to thank Steve May from Capita, who’s been on the job with me for the last year, for his involvement - he’s been superb.

'No excuses'

“We’re at stage two so this only certain things we can do. We’ve got restrictions on what the players can and can’t do at the moment, but hopefully in the coming months, we’ll get past stage two and into stage three and we can utilise the building to its full potential.

“If you look at the branding around the building, Jon Lansdown has done a fantastic job designing it. As Steve Lansdown mentioned when he came here a number of months ago: you’ve got a great facility here, there’s no excuses for the players now.

“With these facilities, certain pressures come, but I think they’ll embrace that. From what I’ve seen, the players have been very enthused and looking forward to the restart of the season.”