Peter Jackson: Six Nations must not shrink for England

Mercifully, England’s attempts to scrap the fallow weeks of the Six Nations and shrink the tournament into five consecutive weekends have fallen on deaf ears. It shows scant regard for the fans and does nothing for player welfare.

Unions are big on that, or so they keep saying, but it hasn’t stopped the biggest one of all campaigning for a compressed event on the basis that it replicates a World Cup. They were at it again in the immediate aftermath of the Cardiff setback with Clive Woodward in the vanguard.