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RFU CEO Backs Plans To Condense Six Nations From Seven To Six Weeks

Rugby Football Union CEO Ian Ritchie "backed plans to condense the Six Nations Championship from seven to six weeks" as part of the new global season, according to Gavin Mairs of the London TELEGRAPH. Ritchie outlined the RFU’s support for the proposed change for the first time on Thursday, "claiming it would improve the championship, despite concerns about the impact a shortened tournament would have on player welfare." Negotiations are continuing about the format of the Six Nations when the new global season comes into effect in the '19-20 season but Ritchie said that the RFU "had made its position clear." Ritchie: "We believe it is perfectly right to have a six-week competition as opposed to a seven-week one. We think it would improve it. It would narrow the off-periods, help with the broader narrative. We think it is a good route" (TELEGRAPH, 3/24). In London, Alex Lowe wrote it was reported last month that Premiership clubs "had tabled a motion, as part of discussions over a new global season, for the championship to be played in one window" over five consecutive weekends. That idea "was rejected during the last World Rugby talks in San Francisco amid concerns over player welfare." The present seven-week format, "with blank weekends either side of round three," was introduced in '03. Ritchie said that he had spoken to England Manager Eddie Jones, but had not consulted the players about the RFU’s stance. Ritchie: "I don’t speak about these things, nor would I expect to speak, directly to the players." He added that the Six Nations "should also look at what it could do to help encourage the progress" of tier-two nations such as Georgia, but he "virtually extinguished" any notion of the tournament expanding to seven countries (LONDON TIMES, 3/25).

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