The Six Nations Championship "could be restructured for the first time in 14 years after the English clubs called for the tournament to be shortened and played in one five-week window," according to Alex Lowe of the LONDON TIMES. Premiership Rugby's "radical proposal to scrap the fallow weeks" from the existing seven-week schedule has been submitted as World Rugby prepares to meet in San Francisco next week for "talks aimed at introducing a global season." The schedule change must be approved by the Six Nations committee before it becomes part of the "global season matrix" -- but there were indications Wednesday night that the clubs' plan could be given the "green light." A source said, "There is nothing that has been suggested [for the global season] that would significantly affect the Six Nations, that would be a no-go area." Six Nations CEO John Feehan has maintained from the outset of the global-season debate that it was "critical, for broadcasting and commercial reasons, that the tournament did not move to later in the year." Playing five rounds of matches on consecutive weekends would free up two weeks in a "packed calendar" without the Six Nations having to move out of its traditional February-March window (LONDON TIMES, 1/26). In London, Gavin Mairs reported it was "not clear" whether the English clubs had the support of the Rugby Football Union, whose CEO, Ian Ritchie, will be part of a three-man Six Nations subcommittee at the American summit. Both Premiership Rugby and the RFU declined to comment. It is believed that the clubs see their plan as a way of allowing the championship to retain its slot in the calendar while freeing up two weekends to allow "more flexibility at the business end of the clubs' domestic and European campaigns." The southern hemisphere unions have been lobbying for the Six Nations to shift from its traditional February and March slot to allow a "greater alignment of the two seasons" (TELEGRAPH, 1/25).
