English rugby’s power brokers close to agreeing extending season by two weeks

English rugby’s power brokers are close to agreeing a two-week extension to the current season structure, while ring-fencing appears to have been kicked into touch.

The issue of promotion and relegation was not discussed at a meeting of the Professional Game Board, composed of Premiership Rugby, the Rugby Football Union and the Rugby Players’ Association. There was a proposal to adopt a five-season freeze on relegation from the Premiership following the 2018-19 season, but the 13 stakeholder clubs could not reach a consensus – meaning automatic one-up-one-down is likely to continue for the near future.

The question of which clubs would be frozen out appeared to be the main factor in sinking the plan.

There was more agreement on talks around the new season structure that will come into effect for the 2019-20 season. A year ago, Premiership Rugby had proposed extending the season from nine to 10 months. That was met with ferocious opposition from the RPA, with leading players mentioning the possibility of strike action.

Now a compromise appears to have been reached, with the main stakeholders in agreement over adding two weeks to the season, which clubs hope will minimise the overlap with international matches.

The start date of the 2019-20 season will be affected by the World Cup, which will run between September and November, but The Daily Telegraph understands there could be an announcement before the PGB’s next meeting in June.