PRL’s decision this week to deny the 2021 Lions a crucial extra week of preparation for their tour of South Africa – and the chance of filling everyone’s coffers with a match at Twickenham – is another example of its myopic closedshop tendencies.
Rather than cut the Lions some slack, as the PRO14 has chosen to do, PRL has insisted it will not budge from its decision to play the 2021 Premiership final on June 26.
It quotes World Rugby’s hopelessly inadequate San Francisco agreement in 2017 – which has pushed the professional season in Europe out to almost ...