OFFICIALS REPRESENTING THE England rugby team have agreed to play midweek matches at the next Rugby World Cup in order to help make the fixture list fairer for smaller nations.
According to reports, the Tier One unions met up to discuss plans to do more to accommodate smaller nations in future tournaments, following widespread complaints about a perceived bias towards the bigger nations in relation to how the fixture list is scheduled.
A statement released today said:
“The tier one union delegates at the meeting committed to playing midweek matches during RWC 2015 in order to help achieve a better balance for tier two and tier three unions.”
While nothing has been confirmed, these recommendations will be put forward to the IRB for consideration.
For the current World Cup, the fixture list appeared to favour the bigger nations, while smaller teams such as Samoa had to play four times in 16 days.