TALKS were held with the England and France rugby unions, where a majority of Fiji’s Europe-based players ply their trade, on topics of special interest such as player welfare, following the announcement of new guidelines set by World Rugby.
This, according to the Fiji Rugby Union’s acting chief executive Koli Sewabu.
Under the new guidelines set by World Rugby, which are designed to better manage the workload of players, it ensures a cap of 30 matches per season, with a limit of six consecutive weeks of games before rest is required.
Sewabu said conversations took place with the two rugby unions and the National Rugby League in France, which oversees the Top 14 and Pro D2 competitions.
Besides player welfare, other matters on the table in those discussions were the release of players from their teams for reg nine camps, and for Test fixtures, a better or longer preparation timeframe for them.
“We had the opportunity to talk to England Rugby, French Federation and the League National Rugby in France, which controls the professional game in France,” Sewabu revealed.
“Really, really good positive outcomes from those conversations where we talk about player welfare, reg nine release for camps, and better preparation or longer preparation before Test matches.”
The new World Rugby player welfare guideline which was announced in October states that players will benefit from a mandatory five-week off -season break, at least one week’s rest after international matches and a minimum of 12 weeks away from contact training across the year.
Sewabu said the rules meant all unions were able to get on board with it, especially since the inaugural Nations Championship would start next year with these rules in place.
“I think everyone is in the same boat as that, because we’ve got the six northern hemisphere teams and the six southern hemisphere teams including Fiji and Japan,” he said.
He described the guidelines as a “loading management system” that would allow for the close monitoring of Fiji’s Europe-based players.
