RFU fail in bid to get All Blacks Test switch

 
Concerted attempts by the RFU to change the Test schedule for England’s summer tour of New Zealand in June have failed.
BillBeaumont,RFU chairman told The Rugby Paper that the International Board were not prepared to compromise.
The RFU had asked the IRB to push the opening Test on June 7 back a week.
As it stands England play- ers involved in the Aviva Premiership final on May 31 are ruled out of the June 7 Test against the All Blacks in Auck- land due to player welfare protocols.
This stems from a differ- ence of opinion with the IRB over when the June international window starts.
Beaumont said: “We made a request to the IRB because they interpreted the weekend of May 31-June 1 as a June weekend, and we maintain it is a May weekend.
“We’ve tried for some time now to get it changed, but to no avail.”
An IRB spokesman suggested the RFU had failed to act soon enough: “When the Test schedule was agreed in 2010 the RFU was going through administrative changes. At that time they were asked to respond to the schedule, and that did not happen, so the schedule was drawn up as is.”
England will be seriously handicapped for the crucial first Test of the three Test series against the world champions. The four clubs in Premiership play-off places – Saracens, Northampton,
Leicester and Bath – currently account for 26 of the players selected this season in the England senior squad.
This means that any final featuring two of those clubs could deprive England head coach Stuart Lancaster of up to ten of his starting 23 in Auckland.
NICK CAIN