RFU to meet players in bid to remove England internationals' concerns over global season ahead of Rugby World Cup

Director of professional rugby Nigel Melville will meet the Rugby Players' Association ahead of the autumn internationals, with a resolution set to be implemented before the end of the season

Nigel Melville will meet the RPA next month to discuss player concerns over their welfare (Getty)

England players will not have to worry about their current concerns over the new global season and its impact on player welfare in the lead up to the 2019 Rugby World Cup after the Rugby Football Union insisted that the dispute will be resolved within the coming months.

The RFU’s director of professional rugby, Nigel Melville, will meet with the Rugby Players’ Association ahead of the autumn internationals to go through the biggest concerns that current professionals have regarding the proposed 11-month season.

Former England captain Chris Robshaw was the latest current international to express his concerns over the lack of progress in talks regarding the global calendar, with the Harlequins flanker telling The Independent that “no one has actually come and addressed the players about how that proposed season is going to be”.

But with the global calendar little more than two years away and a Rugby World Cup that the RFU insisted on Tuesday is win-or-bust taking up most of their focus, Melville confirmed that players can ease their concerns because their voices are being listened to and taken seriously.

“There won’t be a distraction when they approach the World Cup because the global season will be fixed,” former England captain Melville said on Tuesday. “I think we’re very much in line with the players, we’re in discussions with them, we’re all part of that negotiation through the RPA and we’re meeting the RPA board on the 5 or 6 November and I go to their board meeting and listen to their players.

“Let’s not forget that this is not about 35-45 players, it’s about all the professional players and they are putting those views forward in the media because they’re international players, people listen to them and they are putting their voice out there, and we’re listening. The really important part of this is we are listening to the players, we’re listening to the owners of the clubs, we’re listening to the Championship clubs and let’s come to a place where we’re all happy, and we understand the need for player welfare absolutely.

“I’m not waiting until the end of the season, I want them to know now that we are listening to them [players]. Through [RPA chief executive] Damian Hopley and the official RPA channel we talk to the players all the time, they’re in camp talking about these things as well and they can talk to Eddie [Jones] and talk to anybody they like, but we will be listening.”

Former England captain Melville stressed that players are being listened to (Getty)

After announcing the RFU’s new strategy plan that will run through to the end of 2021, chief executive Steve Brown admitted that success in the 2019 Rugby World Cup – along with winning every Six Nations along the way – is critical to helping increase mass participation in the sport that in turn will increase the governing body’s finances to put back into the game across all levels.

But another part of Brown’s task since replacing Ian Ritchie two months ago is to seek out and appoint Eddie Jones’ successor as England coach. The RFU still expect Jones to live up to his word of leaving his job with England following the next global gathering in Japan and head for the beaches of Barbados to enjoy his other sporting love – cricket – but initial plans are already starting to be put into place in terms of who will replace the Australian.

“We're building that recipe as we speak,” Brown said. “We're looking very clearly at it. We're within two years of the next World Cup so we need to have Plans A, B and C ready. As you'd expect we're already scanning the horizon at what might be possible when that happens.

“What will also benefit the union is that Eddie wants to leave a legacy. He wants to leave a system that works and that the next head coach can pick up. He's very keen to support our succession plans as well. I think we're in a good place for that, probably better than we have been in the past.”

There will be no shortage of potential candidates to replace Jones, however. Japan 2019 will see a mass exodus of international coaches, with Steve Hansen, Michael Chieka, Warren Gatland and Joe Schmidt all set to leave New Zealand, Australia, Wales and Ireland respectively. The answer could yet lie closer to home though, with Exeter’s Rob Baxter and Saracens’ Mark McCall also having their names thrown into the mix, while current England assistant coach Steve Borthwick looks a certain head coach of the future as he learns his trade under Jones.

Brown, though, will not be rushed into an announcement, though he did confirm that he wants a good idea of who will be next in line before the next World Cup begins in September 2019.

“It's quite a dynamic situation,” added Brown. “It's not a rigid thing that we're going to lock it down by this date. There may well be the next star out there that we haven't quite identified yet. Possibly not, but that could be the case.

“I wouldn't want to be going into a World Cup not having a good view of it. We also need it not to be a distraction going into 2019. I want to make sure we've already got that sorted.”