England clubs deeply worried about new plan

England’s clubs fear that World Rugby’s controversial proposals for a Nations Championship could throw the game into chaos and threaten the welfare of the top international players.

Premiership Rugby and Ligue Nationale de Rugby are threatening legal action against the proposed new global test competition, which they argue contravenes the San Francisco agreement that was made in January 2017. That accord was supposed to decide the structure of the world season until 2032.

World Rugby has called a meeting of chairmen and chief executives from tier-one unions, Fiji and Japan and player representatives to talk through the proposal in Dublin tomorrow, after leading test players including Owen Farrell, Johnny Sexton and Kieran Read warned of serious player-welfare and integrity concerns.

The English and French clubs are angry they have not been part of the negotiation process and that the new competition breaches the San Francisco agreement.

Plans for the new tournament include end-of-year semifinals and a final, which means the finalists would play five weekends in a row in the autumn, despite the current international window allowing for only three test matches.

The clubs are also frustrated that detailed agreements struck with the Rugby Football Union about the number of games leading England players will play over the course of a fouryear World Cup cycle would be left in disarray if the year-long competition between the two hemispheres is established.

“There is a fear that the Nations Championship proposal would throw the game into chaos and we should all work to ensure that doesn’t happen,” said one Premiership source.

World Rugby appears to be prepared to drop the semifinal stages from its proposed competition as a compromise, but Premiership Rugby chief executive Mark McCafferty said even that would not be acceptable.