Sunday 28 August 2016 14:52, UK
The chief executive of Premiership Rugby is unhappy with the schedule for next summer's British & Irish Lions tour to New Zealand.
Mark McCafferty claims the planned 10-match tour to New Zealand is "not sustainable" and believes that if the trip goes ahead as agreed the outcome will be player burnout.
As things currently stand, the Lions will depart before next season's Premiership and Pro12 finals take place, while the first tour match is on the same weekend as the Top 14 final in France.
And McCafferty's main concern is the length of the tour, coming so soon after a typically gruelling domestic season.
Ten games over that period is a lot and there will be difficulty for players coming off that tour going into the Premiership.
He told The Observer: "It is going to be very difficult next year. It is a punishing schedule and I do not know why it was signed up to.
"Ten games over that period is a lot and there will be difficulty for players coming off that tour going into the 2017/18 Premiership.
"The Lions is in the mix as we move towards the season structure post-2019. It is a fabulous brand and an important part of the economics for the southern hemisphere.
"It should carry on but it is not sustainable that players can go through a club and international season, be involved in that scale of tour, and then be in shape for the following season.
"People involved in the Lions need to listen. Do you need to play that number of midweek games when the economics are driven off the back of three Tests in the main?
"Nothing can be done about next year but then the agreement will be up and things need to be worked out."
