The British & Irish Lions could opt not to pick players from England if the
Wil Myers Authentic Jersey Premiership clubs refuse to give them more time to prepare for future tours. The Lions manager, John Spencer, is also unhappy about plans to shrink the itinerary from 10 to eight games and believes the squad need to be cut more slack if they are to remain competitive and relevant in the longer term. Lions and All Blacks draw thrilling final Test and series Read more The reluctance of the leading English clubs to tweak their end-of-season schedule every four years to ease the logistical pressure on the touring squad has been a recurring issue and Spencer can envisage a situation where the Lions might choose to travel without players who are not released earlier. “I would dread the day when it became divisive like that … but we have to sit down and talk about it pretty quickly,” he saidAll it needs is a few sensible heads to sit around a table. I am sure there are people in the Premiership who understand the Lions and who want it to succeed, just as they want their own countries to succeed. “The attitude of the clubs will be: ‘You take our players every four years and you bring them back broken and we want to stop the overlaps in the Six Nations.’ But the Lions is more special than that. It is much more valuable and has a much higher place in world rugby. To let it fade away
http://www.authenticsandiegopadres.com/Yangervis-Solarte-Jersey just for political reasons would be madness to me. “We have to sit down and have some serious conversations with provinces, clubs and unions. Surely once every four years we could be given an extra couple of weeks? That couple of weeks could be overseas but equally it could be at home where we are not jet-lagged and can train properly.” “We’ve talked about this for eight years. And it’s exactly the same problems cropping up every time. Now we need to get together and form a credible force to make a difference. “I have made my feelings clear during the last couple of weeks. No coach in any of our countries at any level would have accepted the schedule we had – playing the week after the domestic finals. It is just madness as far as player welfare is concerned. If you are also using those first few games to prepare for a Test it is not a proper preparation. We just cannot let that happen on a future Lions tour.” Advertisement Spencer is equally
http://www.authenticbuffalosabres.com/authentic-derek-roy-jersey concerned that the Lions were not formally represented at World Rugby’s global calendar meeting in San Francisco in February: “We have been told World Rugby have had a meeting and that the Premiership were represented. What I want to know is, who was representing the Lions? “There can be a conflict of interest there because when those chief executives are dealing with the position of their own countries … that might well take priority to the Lions. It’s my job to try to explain to those directors that the Lions must take precedence.” The plan to reduce the length of future tours is just one of Spencer’s concerns: “There may have been decisions made already to shorten the tours, but there are obvious dangers in that. If we reduce to eight games you have to give every player a start in the first three matches to stake a claim for a Test place. But if you take those three matches out and then you take the three Tests out, that only leaves
Adidas Nick Bjugstad Womens Jersey you two games. Two games to prepare 41 players for three Test matches against the best team in the world away from home? I wonder whether coaches would want to take on a tour that was virtually impossible to win. “You’re also looking into the future, wondering whether players would want to go knowing it was virtually impossible, too
