U20 Euro Championship - not this year

More news on the proposed U20 four nations, mentioned below.

RFUW have confirmed that they did propose the tournament, and did offer to run it, but Wales and Scotland later withdrew. England will still play host to France for the same week, playing two internationals, but the exciting new initiative that was the "U20 Four Nations" will not take place - this year at least.

With Wales and Scotland also withdrawing from the senior European XVs championship you have to wonder again what the heck is going on. Though both nations have U20 teams I am not sure that either now have any fixtures planned for 2012, while Scotland's newly-formed A team also seems to have a pretty thin season ahead.

While cost is always an issue, surely a tournament in the UK over the Bank Holiday week could not have been a better or more cost effective means to develop the next generation of international players, especially for Wales who have no programme of matches at all outside the Six Nations.

Perhaps they want to concentrate on preparations for the Women's Sevens World Cup qualifiers, which would be reasonable if it were not for the fact that, frankly, neither stands much chance of qualifying. In the meanwhile Scotland, at least, desperately need to improve their performances at XVs otherwise they will be watching the 2014 World Cup from the sidelines.

Nothing but praise should go to RFUW in taking the initiative to propose and organise the event - a shame that the other home nations are unable to be so far sighted.