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English rugby announce in-season breaks, June Premiership finals from 2019-20

The Premiership final will be played in late June from 2019-20. Stu Forster/Getty Images

The Premiership final will be played in late June from the 2019-20 season, in one of a number of changes to English rugby's structure announced Tuesday at Twickenham.

The match, which is traditionally played on the last weekend of May, has been moved back to allow for the introduction of several player welfare initiatives, such as guaranteed in-season breaks.

The rescheduling of the season is set to see the Premiership final fall at the same time as summer cricket Tests and major international football tournaments. The 2019-20 Premiership final, which is scheduled for June 20, will clash with the group stages of Euro 2020.

The chief executive of the Rugby Football Union, Stephen Brown, said the changes were a collaboration between the RFU, Premiership and Professional Game Agreement (PGA).

"We've taken into account the obligations under the PGA and developed the new domestic season structure, focusing on the requirements of player welfare and input from sports science, which we all feel is the right approach for professional rugby in England," Brown said.

As well as the guaranteed in-season breaks, players will only be able to play a part in a maximum of 35 games a season, playing no more than the equivalent of 30 full matches.

England Senior Elite Player Squad players will also have to take a minimum 10-week break during the off-season and England's 2019 Rugby World Cup squad will be rested for the July 2020 summer tour -- which is set to be away to a Tier 2 nation.

Mark McCafferty, chief executive of Premiership Rugby, added that a later Premiership season will allow matches to be played in better conditions.

"The professional game continues to develop quickly and we've worked extremely hard to achieve a number of progressive goals for the English structure over the next three seasons, building in new player management approaches, reducing overlaps and scheduling more matches for the better weather conditions of spring and early summer," McCafferty said.

The 2019-20 Premiership season is also set to start on the same weekend as the Rugby World Cup quarterfinals on Oct. 20.