England get extra home comfort at 2015 World Cup

26 August 2014 09:16

Tournament hosts England will have an additional advantage as they bid to win the 2015 World Cup after it was announced Tuesday they would be at their regular training base for most of the event.

The Pennyhill Park hotel in Bagshot, south-west of London, is where England base themselves during the end-of-year internationals and the Six Nations.

Those familiar surroundings will also play host to coach Stuart Lancaster's squad for at least the pool phase of next year's World Cup as England seek to lift the Webb Ellis trophy for the second time after their 2003 triumph in Australia.

Indeed England could be at their Surrey base for all but one fixture in the tournament should they top Pool A and reach the final.

England will move away from Pennyhill ahead of their final pool match at Manchester City football cub's home ground on October 10.

As well as being based at Pennyhill, England will also play three of their four pool matches at their Twickenham home ground in south-west London.

"It's great to have Pennyhill Park as our training base," said Lancaster. "It's a place we are used to - the facilities are first-class, especially with the new training centre."

In total, Rugby World Cup organisers announced Tuesday that 41 training bases would be used during the tournament in September and October next year.

Wales will also have a certain amount of 'home comfort' with half of their preparations taking place at the Vale Resort near Cardiff, a familiar base for Warren Gatland's men, who will also play two pool fixtures at the Millennium Stadium.

However, Wales will play Australia and England at Twickenham.

Defending champions New Zealand will, in a reflection of their fixture list, use three venues as training bases during the pool stage -- the Lensbury and St Mary's University near Twickenham, the Sport Wales National Centre in Cardiff and Darlington Mowden Park in north-east England.

France, losing finalists in 2011, will divide their pool stage preparations between The Vale and Trinity School in Croydon, south-east of London.

All team bases will consist of an outdoor and indoor training facility, a swimming pool, gym and hotel.

The facilities must meet international team training standards. Match venue locations have also been taken into account as part of the selection programme

Among the sites chosen are St George's Park, the English Football Association's centre of excellence.

England Rugby 2015 chief executive Debbie Jevans said: "We are lucky to have some fantastic facilities right across the country and the enthusiasm to be part of the tournament has been really encouraging.

She added: "We are confident that we now have 41 high-quality training environments which provide a home away from home for the teams."

Meanwhile International Rugby Board chairman Bernard Lapasset said: "The teams participating at England 2015 will have access to exceptional facilities the length and breadth of the host nation.

"It is the attention to detail on and off the field that will elevate this event to new levels."

Source: AFP