Pirtek UK & Edinburgh provides Scottish Rugby with top-tier service to hold their own in the scrum.
For over 151 years, the Scotland national rugby union team have been competing at the highest level of the sport. Currently ranked seventh in the world, the team competes in the annual Six Nations Championship and participates in Rugby World Cup, which takes place every four years. Their best finish in the World Cup came in 1991, where they lost to the infamous All Blacks in the third-place play-off. In 1871 Scotland hosted the World’s first international rugby union game at Raeburn Place in Edinburgh, where Scotland won the match 2 tries to 1. Now known as the Calcutta Cup match this was also the first ever televised international rugby game in 1938.
For rugby athletes, in order to compete at the highest level and be as prepared as possible for matches, they require equipment that can push their abilities to the limit.
Industry:
Professional Sports.
Requirement:
Reactive emergency replacement job.
Customer signed off benefits
The ability to train the forward pack to the highest level.
The problem
In the late stages of 2020, before the autumn test against South Africa, their newly arrived scrum machine failed due to one of the brake callipers splitting. Enforcer Rugby, the Australian manufacturer of the machine introduced Scottish Rugby to Ben Jones, franchise manager of Pirtek Edinburgh, to assess the issue.
The machine, purchased from Enforcer Rugby in Australia, was likely damaged in transit and failed to operate in the first instance. With the Autumn Tests and the Six Nations on the horizon, it was imperative that the machine was repaired in rapid time to give the team their best chance of preparing successfully for the tournament.
The solution
Utilising his prior knowledge of agricultural engineering, and his 25 years experience with Pirtek, Ben took to the task of repairing and assembling the replacement brake calliper. Despite his reassembly, the team flagged that although
the machine operated a lot better, it still was experiencing problems. Not wanting to leave a job unfinished, Ben added 300 kilos of steel plating to the machine before adapting the brake discs to make them able to create more friction.
Following completion, the team were so impressed with Ben’s efforts that they have decided to use him exclusively for any future jobs.
The results
Since successfully repairing this unusual machine, Ben has been asked back before each tournament to check and tweak the machine for maximum performance and ensure the forwards achieve their full potential.
Ben Jones, franchise owner at Pirtek Edinburgh said: “As a big Rugby fan myself, it was a privilege to work closely with the Scottish national rugby team to deliver a first-class service to repair their vital training equipment to ensure the team was fully prepared for the Six Nations. It felt like we were treated as part of their wider team. We look forward to supporting them now and in the future.”
