Medway Rugby Club are to ground share their Priestfields venue with the Royal Engineers.

A three-year partnership has been agreed by the two clubs.

The Royal Engineers - with strong links to Medway - have left their previous base at Minley, in Hampshire, and were keen to find a suitable alternative.

Medway’s venue in Rochester, with four pitches, two of which are floodlit and an elevated viewing platform on the main pitch, it was an ideal venue for the Engineers, especially given the recent £11,000 investment to improve the playing surface.

Priestfields is located close to the Royal School of Military Engineering in Brompton.

The bar facilities were also important, with the Royal Engineers club saying: “It is because of, not despite, rugby’s intensely physical and athletic characteristics that such great camaraderie exists before and after matches.

The long-standing tradition of players from competing teams enjoying each other’s company away from the pitch and in a social context remains at the very core of the game.”

They added: “Both clubs look forward to a fulfilling and rewarding partnership.”