- is there any reason why the NRC can't shift one week.
Dave, the NRC has already shifted a week, in 2014 and 2015 the start date was on the 21st August, in 2016 with the Stars merging with NSW Country the season shortened and the ARU moved the start date later to the 27th August, which is the date that Begg has now booked in for the Shute Shield GF.
As announced in October last year, Fiji will include a team in the 2017 NRC, already this means that the tournament will be one week longer, if the NRC were then to move 1 week later on top of this then the NRC GF wouldn't be held until the 5th November.
Super Rugby clubs use the month window post NRC GF for the players holiday, who are entitled to 4 weeks consecutive leave. In 2016 this allowed Super Rugby teams to have a 4 week pre-season training block before Christmas leave.
If the NRC GF shifts to the 5th November, then the Super Rugby December block preseason is halved to just 2 weeks. That's simply not good enough for professional athletes. 3 weeks maybe, but not 2, and that's why it won't and can't happen.
Players are entitled to and deserve their holidays, but professional players need their pre-season.. NRC GF can't be any later then the 1st Nov or it's either going to clash with the RUPA CBA or the Super Rugby pre-season training block.
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