Leading England players are exasperated that player welfare guidelines will be broken for a second season running, Telegraph Sport understands.
As part of the Professional Game Partnership between the Rugby Football Union, Premiership Rugby and the Rugby Players’ Association that came into effect last September, a new limit of 30 games per season was introduced.
However, stats from Opta show that Northampton back Tommy Freeman and prop Will Stuart have already played 25 games while England captain Maro Itoje, Saracens hooker Jamie George and Harlequins fly-half Marcus Smith are on 24.
There are five regular rounds of the Premiership season remaining plus domestic and European knockout games leading into the Lions tour and England’s tour to Argentina and South America.