WORCESTER Warriors boss Alan Solomons is in favour of guaranteed breaks for players during the campaign as part of a shake-up to the Premiership structure.

Next season will kick off on September 21 with the Premiership Rugby Cup before league action begins on October 20 and ends on June 20 with the final at Twickenham.

The 2020-21 and 2021-22 campaigns will then start on September 12 and 18 and finish on June 26 and 18 respectively.

England's summer tours will take place in July rather than June to leave August as the only month clear of rugby either being played on these shores or by Eddie Jones' men overseas.

On two of the four years, however, the World Cup and British and Irish Lions tours mean internationals will also be scheduled in August - resulting in seasons spanning 12 calendar months.

Therefore, England internationals will play a maximum of 30 full games per season, reduced from 32, and be confined to a limit of 35 match involvements of 20 minutes or more.

Other key alterations announced include in-season breaks for players and a mandatory five-week post-season rest for all players.

Solomons said he had not thoroughly studied the details of the changes set out by the Rugby Football Union, Premiership Rugby and the Rugby Players' Association but welcomed the move, insisting player welfare was “paramount”.

“I am in favour of making sure that the players are properly looked after,” Solomons said.

“We have just done it ourselves.

“There was a block of Premiership six which was pretty heavy and we have given guys time off.

“We have also just given the non-playing squad time off.

“I think you need it both mentally and physically so I am in favour of managing a player’s game-time carefully.”

Solomon said he had always been wary of “overplaying” players and was keen to ensure they were “regularly rested” throughout the season.

“There are a lot of games so you have got to manage it,” Solomons continued.

“But we try to manage our squad well in terms of our rotation as we rotated for those first two European games.

“We are rotating for our next two games and then we will look at it going forward.

“We are well aware of that and making sure that our players are rested."

Mark McCafferty, chief executive of Premiership Rugby, added: “The professional game continues to develop quickly.

“We’ve worked extremely hard with the RPA and RFU over the last 18 months since San Francisco to achieve a number of progressive goals for the English structure over the next three seasons, building in new player management approaches, reducing overlaps and scheduling more of Gallagher Premiership Rugby for the better weather conditions of spring and early summer.”

Key points

  • Guaranteed in-season breaks for players in each of the three seasons.
  • Mandatory five-week post-season rest for all players which includes two weeks’ absolute rest and three weeks’ active rest
  • Minimum 10 weeks off/pre-season for England Senior Elite Player Squad (EPS) players (five weeks rest and five weeks preparation)
  • Minimum 12 weeks between Gallagher Premiership Rugby Final and Round 1 of the following Gallagher Premiership Rugby season
  • Maximum 35 match involvements (>20 minutes) in any one season for all players
  • Maximum 30 full game equivalents (reduced from 32) in any one season for all players
  • Premiership Rugby Cup structure to provide rest weeks for players with the most match time
  • England Senior EPS players to have a mandatory rest week if playing all international matches and more than 65% of total minutes (reduced from 80%) in the Quilter Internationals or Six Nations. 
  • England Rugby World Cup squad rested for the summer Tests in July 2020 unless they have had 20 or fewer match involvements in the 2019-20 season
  • England players on the 2021 British and Irish Lions tour to have a rest week during the 2021 Autumn internationals
  • English Lions’ players to have 10 weeks break
  • Tri-partite panel with an independent chairman to monitor and ensure compliance with the principles and to decide on any individual exceptions