Money is driving the agenda at the expense of player welfare

THE 2016/17 rugby season is one of the most exciting and important for international rugby players in the Home Nations.

That’s because at the end lies the ultimate test – a tour with the British and Irish Lions.

Being selected for the Lions is the highest honour for a player.

It is an indicator that you are one of the elite – the best of the best.

Yet there is considerable disquiet growing regarding the schedule of the 2017 tour and, indeed, whether the British and Irish Lions are going to have a future beyond this trip.

For starters, the tour begins a week after the Pro12 and Premiership finals with a match against a Provincial Union XV – perhaps not the toughest opposition but there are no easy matches in New Zealand.

It would be highly unusual for the four teams contesting these finals not to have at least some Lions players. The tour has a tough schedule of games. After the opening match, the Saturday games are against the Crusaders, the Maori All Blacks and the three test series against the All Blacks.

The midweek games feature the remaining franchises in New Zealand such as the Highlanders, the Blues and the Hurricanes.

It is a daunting prospect for the Lions, not least because only three touring teams have gone to New Zealand and remained undefeated outside of the test matches in the history of rugby in that country.

And while the prospect of touring with the Lions is salivating for the players, the clubs who have to release them are baulking at having to let them go.

They fear that the intensity of the tour is simply going to be far too damaging for their most valuable assets, who will have experienced a very long and demanding season already. I can appreciate their point of view. Over the years, the British and Irish Lions has grown into a money-making machine, not only for the Home Unions but also for the countries that they visit.

The Australian Union was in a parlous financial state until the Lions came to town around four years ago.

The thousands of Scots, Irish, Welsh and English fans who pay thousands of pounds to follow their team ploughed millions of dollars into the economy – as they will in New Zealand next year.

It is now money that is driving the agenda at the expense of player welfare.

It may be too late now to negotiate the itinerary for this tour, but the Lions management must have a greater degree of empathy in the modern game to ensure they are sympathetic to the clubs who supply the players.

Without it, Lions tours may be in serious jeopardy.