British club season shifts for Lions tour of NZ

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The British and Irish Lions will leave for their rugby tour to New Zealand next year with a full complement of players after striking a deal with England's top clubs over the domestic season schedule.

Premier Rugby, the body which oversees the British club game, has agreed to shorten the English season by two weeks.

The Lions will depart on May 24, four days before the date originally scheduled for the Premiership grand final and the wildcard final.

Premier Rugby had previously refused to accommodate the Lions. But by bringing the finals forward by a fortnight, the Heineken Cup final is the last fixture of the campaign on May 21, with the Premiership grand final a week earlier.

"In future, we hope that these tours do not encroach into May, which is regarded as the club window, nor harm the legitimate objectives of a viable professional club game," Premier Rugby chief executive Howard Thomas said in a statement yesterday.

The Lions chief executive John Feehan acknowledged future tours would start later, beginning with South Africa in 2009, and that would probably mean a reduction in length.

- NZPA