Ben Earl calls for changes after ‘brutal’ Nations Championship travel demands

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Ben Earl has called for a rethink of the Nations Championship format following England’s “brutal” itinerary that featured three Tests in three continents on successive weekends.

Steve Borthwick’s team ended their 25,000-mile July tour with a victory over Argentina on Saturday and their two wins offer sight of a place in the inaugural competition’s final at Allianz Stadium on 29 November.

But victory over the Pumas in Santiago del Estero was sealed despite sleep-deprived players being limited to a reduced training schedule in order to recover from the travel, while the time difference was also a hurdle to overcome.

The itinerary – the toughest faced by any nation this month – was especially challenging for England’s British and Irish Lions stars such as Earl, Ellis Genge and Ollie Chessum who faced Australia last summer.

Having taken four long haul and four short haul flights in just under four weeks, the amount of travel has been a point of discussion within the squad.

Earl said: “It’s been brutal, there’s no two ways about it.

“We’ve been speaking about it – why would we not all be playing in one country? So you just don’t travel, you go to one nation and have that festival feel.

“You come to Australia, South Africa, wherever, and there’s so much rugby going on. How cool would that be?

“I’m not paid to make those decisions but it has been tough. It’s been tough coming at the end of what’s been quite a long season anyway for most of us.

“It’s been back and forth, coming back to England, seeing your families and then going away again.

“It has seemed a bit weird but it’s just something we’re going to have to get used to because I think it’s just the beginning.”