Billy Vunipola told The Times last week that players would consider striking over an increasingly crowded schedule

England have been defeated in their bid to reduce the Six Nations Championship from a seven-week tournament to six after France joined the other nations in voting against the proposal at a Six Nations board meeting.

The RFU had been coupled with France in a desire to squeeze the tournament by losing one of the two rest weekends while the other four nations were opposed to the plan. However, the French federation has performed an about-turn and left England isolated as they lost the vote five to one.

The RFU has long been lobbying for a move to six weeks, even though its players in the England team are opposed to the change. The RFU’s position for the move to six weeks is largely due