SRU must resist English demand

ENGLAND rugby chiefs shouldn’t be allowed to get their way over proposals for a radical shake-up of the Six Nations. The RFU wants to push through plans which would allow England and France to sit out the first round of games — leaving Scotland, Ireland, Wales and Italy as the only sides in action. All six countries would play the second weekend with the game between England and France standing alone in the third weekend when there are normally no matches.

Les Bleus have yet to back the English proposals that would be introduced in the year 2020. At present, there are five rounds of games played over seven weeks with two rest weekends. England want the tournament played over six weeks, with just one weekend rest in the middle. The call for proposed changes has come after pressure from the highly-influential English Premiership clubs, who want the Six Nations more compact to ensure players aren’t away from them for too long. Cutting the length of the tournament would be tough on the England and French players, who would lose vital recovery time and it would make a mockery of the importance of player welfare. England would want the other nations to fall into line with their plans but Scotland don’t have enough strength in depth to cope with a shortened tournament. Injuries to key players and no time to recover would hit them hard. Because of that, senior SRU figures have told Sportsmail they are firmly against the English plans. Let’s hope their opposition doesn’t crumble.