As I write this there are just 19 days to go before the opening ceremony of our games and C4 has already started its trailer campaign with the clever ‘Thanks for the Warm Up’ posters which are starting to appear on billboards across the country. If the Olympic experience is anything to go by then we are in for something even more special than we could have imagined and I am sure the nation is ready to build on the momentum already created by a great Olympic Games. Yesterday I was in Norfolk checking on our squad and staff and it is clear that they are all up to it. I watched a punishing schedule of fitness and tactics helped along by a number of scout players. Although the team is in ‘lock down’ and we are not allowing any media involvement at this stage, we did welcome Matt Hampson along this week and he generously gave each of the staff and team a T Shirt and a copy of his book. He is a great inspiration and it is good to have him join up with us. You will have heard that ticket sales for the games have now topped 2.2million at the last count – this is incredible but as you will also know, tickets for rugby sold out in 3 days. I am however able to offer on a first come first served basis a small number of tickets to Members only for the Thurs/Sat cross over/and Finals. These are pairs of tickets, one wheelchair user with one companion and cannot be sold separately. If you are interested in these then please email DanielHook@RFU.com. These tickets will stay open to Members only until 17 August after which we will open them up to non-members though with such small numbers I would expect them to go very quickly. Enjoy the rest of the Olympics and get ready for the big one…………
David Pond
