Axe falls on A matches

Josh Lewsey came through the England A side

The Six Nations Committee have scrapped all A internationals for the 2004 season.

The move follows last season's withdrawal of Wales and Scotland, which left just four teams in the competition.

Wales and Scotland pulled out to cut costs, although the decision did not go down well with the other countries, who use the A games to blood internationals of the future.

The decision to axe the A internationals saw England's top clubs vote to continue playing Zurich Premiership matches during next year's Six Nations Championship.

This was an excellent opportunity to improve the season for the benefit of the Premiership Premier chief Howard Thomas

They will switch three rounds of the domestic league, two of which were to be staged in midweek on 14 October and 31 December, to weekends when England are playing away.

"Midweek games have never been an ideal solution for players or supporters," said Howard Thomas, chief executive of Premier Rugby, the umbrella organisation responsible for the 12 Premiership clubs.

"By playing through the Six Nations, we are able to reschedule the midweek games ensuring all the players have at least a week's recovery between each match."

The move will also avoid any need to rearrange any Premiership matches on the weekend of 24/25 April, when European semi-finals are already scheduled.

With games being moved to the weekends of 14/15 February, 21/22 February and 27/28 March, the clubs will avoid an eight-week hiatus in the Premiership programme.

Premiership fixture list

Several were left without a home match for up to 10 weeks last season because of European competition and the Six Nations.

"We have been working hard to resolve the current season structure issues for some time," Thomas added.

"We were reluctant to change a fixture list which has already been issued but feel this was an excellent opportunity to improve the Rugby World Cup season for the benefit of the Premiership.

"The decision was made having considered the success of playing through the autumn internationals.

Six Nations fixtures

"During this period there seems to be no negative effect on attendance or support for the club game.

"We are confident that the Premiership games played during the Six Nations period will be as equally supported as those played during the autumn internationals."