Players’ union chief goes missing as

RUGBY’S top players will this week reject proposals to extend the Aviva Premiership season by a month when the players’ union issue their first official statement since the plan was floated.

The Mail on Sunday revealed the depth of anger among players in March, when Premier Rugby announced they would take advantage of World Rugby’s decision to shift the summer Test window from June to July in a bid to align the northern and southern hemisphere seasons. Premier Rugby want to push the Aviva Premiership final back by four weeks from the end of May but the plan had not been signed off by the RFU, the Rugby Players’ Association (RPA) or the Professional Game Board (PGB) — who oversee the sport in England.

It prompted some players to threaten strike action amid fears a mandatory five-week rest period would be jeopardised, while welfare concerns were being ignored.

The MoS understand Premier Rugby chief executive Mark McCafferty, the driving force behind the move to reduce clashes between international and Premiership matches by effectively turning the season into an 11-month-a-year cycle, presented to the RPA board on May 10, when he defended his organisation’s position and

GOOD NIGHT: Damian Hopley was at the Rugby Players’ Association dinner until the early hours of the morning