Injuries to star players force rugby’s administrators to scrutinise club calendar
Rugby Football Union emphasises its commitment to player welfare as talks with Premier Rugby Ltd begin over new ‘heads of agreement’
Player welfare again found itself screaming at the top of rugby union’s in-tray last week, and understandably so after three members of England’s squad – Alex Corbisiero, Geoff Parling and Tom Johnson – as well as Ireland’s Sean O’Brien were incapacitated for long periods.
It is a worry, of course, and all the more so because little can be done about it in the short term. Yes, players are bigger and fitter than they have ever been. Yes, they play too much given those considerations. But none of that is going to alter any time soon.
It was a point emphasised by the Rugby Football Union chief executive Ian Ritchie last week. “We take it very seriously,” he said. “The priority is the fitness of the players but we are not going to see a short-term change in the fixture schedule to deal with this. I look at the international calendar and it is pretty much written until 2019. I don’t see that particularly changing.”…………. see more at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/11141488/Injuries-to-star-players-force-rugbys-administrators-to-scrutinise-club-calendar.html