Hopley: New season will be tough

09 September 2014Hopley, chief executive of the Rugby Players' Association, views a gruelling autumn schedule as more challenging than the race for the Webb Ellis trophy itself.

England face fixtures against New Zealand, South Africa, Samoa and Australia during the QBE Series in November, with the four Tests sandwiched by two rounds of European club action.

Potentially, Stuart Lancaster's players from the top Aviva Premiership clubs could be involved in eight successive games of high intensity.

"We have two European weekends, four autumn internationals and then two European…