Premiership Rugby responds to criticism over its 2021 final taking place only a week before the Lions tour starts
Premiership Rugby have reconfirmed they won’t move forward the date for their 2021 final to accommodate Warren Gatland’s preparations for the Lions’ tour to South Africa.
The Lions confirmed on Wednesday they will be kicking off their 2021 tour on July 3, just a week after the Twickenham conclusion to the English league season. There had been hopes that the Premiership would follow the PRO14’s lead and move their showpiece final forward by a week so that the full Lions squad would have preparation time together before flying to South Africa.
Lions boss Gatland has voiced concerns over sufficient preparation time for his squad with their opening fixture scheduled for the Saturday after England’s top two clubs go head-to-head at Twickenham. The Lions’ 2017 New Zealand tour saw them leave London two days after the Premiership final, arrive in Auckland on the Wednesday and then play their first game little more than 72 hours later.
Premiership Rugby have insisted that a 2021 switch was never on the cards as the dates for their league season had been set in stone since World Rugby’s 2017 San Francisco agreement on the global calendar. A Premiership statement also reiterated that talks are not ongoing about the issue.
“More than 12 months ago, alongside the RFU and RPA, we announced the season structure for Gallagher Premiership Rugby until 2022, which gave everyone clarity on the future,” read their media release.
(Continue reading below…)
“This joint agreement, which included a number of player welfare initiatives, detailed the dates of the Gallagher Premiership finals in 2020, 2021 and 2022. The 2021 Gallagher Premiership final will be on June 26 at Twickenham, as we re-confirmed to the Lions some weeks ago. Talks are not ongoing over this issue, and we are glad to have the opportunity to confirm that so any doubts can be removed.
“In 2017 World Rugby’s San Francisco agreement set out a new global calendar to run until 2032, which included the movement of the Premiership Rugby season into June aligning with Super Rugby. The San Francisco agreement allowed us to set the future season structure for Gallagher Premiership Rugby.
With dates and venues finally set in stone for the Lions' shortened 2021 trip to South Africa, one major issue has emerged for Warren Gatland https://t.co/3XL20IpfAJ
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) December 4, 2019
“We welcome Wednesday’s confirmation of the 2021 British and Irish Lions tour to South Africa, which starts on Saturday, July 3. Since 1997 Premiership Rugby and its clubs have been incredible supporters of the Lions, providing 124 players for those tours.
“We wish the Lions every success in South Africa when again we expect our clubs to supply a large number of players for the trip to play the world champions. We will continue our amicable discussions with the Lions over their tour operational requirements.”
Gallagher Premiership Rugby season dates
2019/20: Gallagher Premiership final – June 20
2020/21: Gallagher Premiership final – June 26
2021-22: Gallagher Premiership final – June 18
WATCH: RugbyPass Rugby Explorer takes a trek through rugby communities in the South African cities of Port Elizabeth and Cape Town
Comments on RugbyPass
ABs lost against a side playing without a hooker - The guy playing, had one shoulder. Line outs were a gimme for the ABs, and the last 8 minutes 14 played 14 against a team that had been smashed 3 weeks in a row… Yet with all that possession, with all that territory, with all the advantages they actually had, especially in the last 8 minutes, they couldn’t buy a point. Those last 8 minutes determined if they outplayed the Boks or not. History will show that the Boks completely outplayed the ABs, especially in those last 8 minutes, the business end of any rugby match
225 Go to commentsWould’ve, could’ve, should’ve, didn’t.
225 Go to commentsKok will become a fan favourite
1 Go to commentsI am really looking forward to Leigh Halfpenny playing his first Super rugby game for the Crusaders Playing a long side his former Welsh and Scarlets team mate Johnny McNicoll.Johnny has been playing great, back in a Crusaders jersey.The attack has strengthened big time. Also looking forward to David Havili at 10. David is a class act, it also allows Dallas McLeod to remain at 12. A good thing.
1 Go to commentsIf he had stopped insisting on playing in the backrow, instead of wing, where everyone told him he should, he would have been a Bok years ago….
11 Go to comments‘Salads don’t win scrums’ 😂 I love that.
19 Go to commentsCan’t wait for the article that talks about misogyny in Ireland. Somehow.
16 Go to commentsI would like to see a rule change, when the attacking team is held up over the try line, by allowing the defensive team to restart a goal line drop out releases the pressure for the defensive team, but what if the attacking team had to restart a tap 5m out from the defensive team it gives the attacking team to apply more pressure, there are endless options for the attacking side and it will keep the fans in suspence.
2 Go to commentsLess modern South African males predictably triggered.
16 Go to commentsMy heart is with Quins, but the head is convinced Toulouse have too much. Ntamack is back, his timing and wisdom has been missed.
1 Go to commentsWow, what a starting line up for the Sharks) Tasty up front,kremer vs Tshituka or venter …fiery ,,Lavannini ,,will he knobble etzebeth? Biggest game for belleau?
1 Go to commentsIt was rubbish to watch, Blues weren’t even present. Did what they had to do, nothing more. Should be better next week against canes.
1 Go to commentsI’ve just noticed that this match has an all-French refereeing team. Surely a game like this ought to have a neutral ref? Although looking at the BBC preview of the Saints game, Raynal is also down as reffing that - so there may be some confusion about who is reffing what.
1 Go to commentsIf Havili can play anywhere in the back line, why not first 5. #10.
11 Go to commentsThe dressing room had already left for their summer break before they ran out in Dublin that year, and that’s on the coach. Franco Smith has undoubtedly made progress, particularly their maul, developing squad players and increasing squad depth. And against a very tight budget too. That said they were too lightweight last year and got found out against both Toulon and Munster in consecutive games. Better this season so far but they’ve developed something of a slow start habit occasionally, most notably losing at home to Northampton who played them at their own game. Play offs will ultimately show whether there has been tangible progress on last year, or not…!
2 Go to commentsAustralian Rugby has been a disaster, by not incorporating learning from previous successful campaigns. QLD Reds 2011 - Waratahs 2014. Players, coaches and administrators appoint there representatives for scheduled meetings, organisation’s agreement’s assessments and correspondence. This why a unified Rugby Union under one entity works. Every Rugby nation has taken that path. Was most difficult in the Northern hemisphere with over 100 years of club rugby before the game become professional. Took a lot of humility for those unions to eventually work together.
7 Go to commentsThough Wilson’s sacking was pretty brutal, it wasn’t just down to that Leinster game; Glasgow had a lot of 2nd half collapses that season, in the URC and Europe, and only just scraped into the playoffs. Franco Smith has definitely been an improvement, some players are delivering far more than they did under Wilson.
2 Go to commentsjesus - that front 5!
1 Go to commentsShould be an absolute cracker of a game! Will be great to see DuPont & Ntamack in tandem once again🔥
1 Go to commentsBest team ever…. To have played? These guys are still pressure chokers. Came nowhere when it counted. What a joke
84 Go to comments