France votes against England plan to shorten Six Nations

The RFU motion would have seen England and France sit out the first weekend of fixtures, all teams compete on the second weekend, and France and England play each other in the third, usually a rest week under the current format.

However, Wales, Ireland, Scotland and Italy are in favour of keeping the present format of five rounds played over seven weeks with two rest periods.

The quartet were supported by France at a Six Nations board meeting on Monday to vote on the RFU proposal of losing one bye week, which England lost by five to one, both the Times and the Daily Telegraph reported.

The RFU proposal would only have succeeded if all nations had agreed to a six-week schedule.

(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by John O'Brien)