A majority of Irish rugby players "voted against plans" to condense the Six Nations Championship into a six-week tournament, according to Ciarán Ó Raghallaigh of the LONDON TIMES. The Rugby Football Union and Premiership Rugby are "eager to shorten the format by one week." Rugby Players Ireland CEO Omar Hassanein said, "We surveyed our players in the last few days and the large majority of our players responded; 75-80 percent of those surveyed voted in favor of keeping the seven-week model. We would definitely share IRFU [Irish Rugby Football Union] sentiments in this, we're a smaller playing body and surely a contracted or truncated series is going to disadvantage us, Wales, Italy and Scotland." RFU CEO Ian Ritchie reportedly last month "expressed his support for the six-week competition," arguing that a shorter tournament would "help with the broader narrative" (LONDON TIMES, 4/13). In Dublin, Ruaidhri O'Connor reported Leinster's Johnny Sexton "also came out against the idea, in keeping with the vast majority of his playing colleagues." He said, "From a player's point of view, the way it is now is very good. Taking one week out is probably a compromise. They are talking about playing it over five or six weeks, which would be tough going" (IRISH INDEPENDENT, 4/13).
