RFU’s attempt to reduce Six Nations to six weeks is defeated

The Rugby Football Union’s hopes of reducing the Six Nations Championship from seven weeks to six are in effect dead in the water after it emerged the governing body was outvoted five to one at a Six Nations board meeting this week.

Despite widespread opposition from a number of senior England players, the RFU had been pushing for the removal of one of the two rest weeks during the Six Nations from the 2019-20 season onwards but failed to attract any support from the other five unions at the vote.

The RFU has also confirmed that it has loosely discussed the possibility of England and France sitting out the first week of the Six Nations and playing each other on one of the two rest weeks but it is understood that proposal – floated by the clubs – was not discussed at the Six Nations board meeting. It is also understood the plan has not been spoken about with France and the RFU moved to distance itself from the proposal on Wednesday, describing it as part of wider discussions.

That the RFU’s pursuit of a truncated Six Nations has been defeated is not surprising considering that the Welsh and Scottish unions have publicly raised their opposition in the past while the Ireland head coach, Joe Schmidt, has also expressed his concerns over playing five international matches in the space of six weeks. France appeared to be England’s best hope of an ally but they and Italy have joined the other home nations in opposition.

The RFU has ploughed on regardless until now, however, and in March Ian Ritchie, who left his role as RFU chief executive, said: “We believe it is perfectly right to have a six-week competition as opposed to a seven-week one. We think it would improve it. It would narrow the off-periods, help with the broader narrative. We think it is a good route.”

The initial proposal for reducing the Six Nations came about as a result of World Rugby’s restructuring of the global calendar from the 2019-20 season. Soon after the global governing body revealed that the summer Test window would move from June to July, Premiership Rugby announced its intention to start its season in September and finish at the end of June, thereby creating an 11-month campaign for England internationals.

The Saracens No8 Billy Vunipola said last week that players could strike if the season is not shortened and the players’ union head, Damian Hopley, backed his claim in comments to the Daily Mirror, saying: “We cannot rule out strike action.” He added: “We’re the players’ union – we have to respond to what our members want and clearly that is the ultimate sanction. Ultimately, if you’ve got an angry group of players who feel disenfranchised, the choice is theirs.”

The England and Harlequins prop Joe Marler has been among those players to voice their anger at the proposal, telling the Guardian: “If we lost a rest week – I think it’s ridiculous. They can slap me on the wrist for that all they want but it’s such a physical tournament, the game itself is getting more and more physical every week.”

The RFU’s defeat in seeking a shorter Six Nations can be considered a victory for player welfare therefore, but recently Marler has been joined by a number of fellow internationals in expressing concerns over a potential 11-month season. Mike Brown lamented the fact that the players were not consulted over the decision while Billy Vunipola joined Marler in suggesting players may strike.

Meanwhile, Eddie Jones has described his record of 19 wins from 20 matches as England’s head coach as “satisfactory” with two years to go until the Japan World Cup, conceding his side are still some way behind New Zealand in the pecking order.

Jones, who on Thursday names his first training squad of the season before the autumn internationals in November against Argentina, Samoa and Australia, has tasted defeat just once with England – their final 2017 Six Nations match against Ireland in March.

“It’s been satisfactory but at the end of the day we are going to be judged by what we do at the World Cup, so the next two years are going to be the most difficult two years,” Jones said. “We need to be the best prepared team in the world because to win the World Cup is going to take an extraordinary performance and to do that we have to have extra ordinary preparation.”