England to stage Six Nations warm-up match prior to Italy in search of cash boost
With England due to play their Guinness Six Nations back match versus Italy in Rome on October 31, the Rugby Football Union are arranging a warm-up game for Eddie Jones’ England just 24 hours after the planned October 24 Gallagher Premiership final.
Amid the financial crisis that will see the RFU shed 139 jobs due to the projected loss of £100million due to the pandemic, they will look to maximise their potential earnings by adding an extra game to the roster.
It has already been revealed that if the capacity at Twickenham is limited to 30,000 all but a small number of tickets will be given to the lucrative hospitality operation that normally helps the RFU generate around £10m per match.
At present, England have not announced their Six Nations warm-up opponents but the Barbarians are one option while the scheduled November Test games with New Zealand, Argentina, Tonga and Australia remain under threat due to travel restrictions caused by Covid-19.
As a result, an expanded Six Nations competition is planned – two groups of four – which will include Japan and Fiji who have confirmed they have been approached to join in.
That would reduce the number of planned home games for England who are negotiating a cut in the match fees to their players. It was £25,000 per player but this will be reduced when a new deal is struck.
The idea of a warm-up game on October 25 hasn’t gone down well with everyone in English rugby, however. One club director of rugby told RugbyPass: “Why do you need a warm-up – it’s a game with Italy? We’re not getting any warm-ups before we restart the Premiership games.”
Martyn Phillips, the Welsh Rugby Union chief executive, has been helping to sort out the calendar and he insists getting all of the international fixtures agreed for the next Test window agreed is down to the English and French unions and their respective clubs.
He said: “It’s largely down to the Rugby Football Union (RFU) and Premiership Rugby Limited (PRL) as well as FFR and LNR in France to iron things out. We’re nearly there. We’re just waiting on those two nations to square things out so it is down to England and France to get us over the line.”
The dates for next season’s Top 14 club games in France will be discussed on Wednesday following Tuesday’s World Rugby executive meeting which is hoping to confirm the international schedule, and the Top 14 clubs (LNR) insist that five Test games – not six as wanted by the FFR – will be arranged.
A leading figure in the discussions told RugbyPass: “We’re dealing with October and November, hammering out release dates, and there is total unity in the club game in Europe. Some of the best minds in the game operate in club rugby and I hope we are at the start of a more inclusive discussion, but first we need to get the internationals sorted for this year.
“There is this period, then there is next season and also the longer term and they are three very different things. Bilateral discussions are taking place rather than imposing regulations. LNR have been talking to the FFR, and PRL and RFU are doing the same. This year can be sorted.
“This is just the beginning of the process. We all want to keep July as an international window and it is a strongly held view. That has all been parked to get this year sorted and there is a long way still to go. Those discussions have yet to be arranged.”
About those done deal claims… https://t.co/sOTDVRq6rk
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) July 7, 2020
Comments on RugbyPass
Wasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
3 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
30 Go to comments