Pirates 45 Bristol 24. Pirates were down 17-9 at HT.Ddid'nt see that result coming.Looks like Bristol to stay with us another season and Newcastle stay up then?
Unless London Welsh win the final. They are reported to have requested an audit of meeting the criteria for promotion - Bedford and Pirates definitely don't.
so it's Welsh v Pirates Final. Want Welsh to go up & Newcastle to come down - but do I get the feeling that RFU will have the final say - to look after the Premiership cartel.
Good to hear some (brief) coverage the Championship on Radio 5 live at 6.55am this morning. Host Rachel Burden - a big Rugby fan, reported from the last Lions tour - was interviewing a journalist from the Independant. Discussed who is in the playoff final & possibility of Welsh getting promoted. Journo said Welsh will know if they have been accepted to join Premiership & can go up, before the payoff final starts. Rachel Burden said it is not right that this situation exists and more money needs to filter down from the Premiership - hoorah
Interesting comment from the Journo - he said if Welsh are ruled out by RFU, they have some 'big hitters' on their board & he can see legal action following! ?
StudleyK - the thing I remember most about that Worc Bedford playoff - was the retaken conversion from Worcs - missed first time. Ref ordered retake & the 2 points ultimately won the match. Sky commentary team -said they had never seen anything like it!
Welsh have now announced that their leg of the final will be played at the Kassam Stadium in Oxford (ring any bells, folks?). They are also intending that this venue will be used for (some? all?) their home games should they win the final and achieve promotion. They clearly don't intend to let the RFU make an easy decision to deny them promotion, as the KS must easily clear all the ground standard criteria for the Prem. They also have a hard-hitting lawyer as chairman ready to roll out legal action should the RFU say "no". Newcastle Falcons can't rest easy just yet.
Of course, LW still have to win the final overall. But don't put it past them.
Welsh have now announced that their leg of the final will be played at the Kassam Stadium in Oxford (ring any bells, folks?). They are also intending that this venue will be used for (some? all?) their home games should they win the final and achieve promotion. They clearly don't intend to let the RFU make an easy decision to deny them promotion, as the KS must easily clear all the ground standard criteria for the Prem. They also have a hard-hitting lawyer as chairman ready to roll out legal action should the RFU say "no". Newcastle Falcons can't rest easy just yet.
Of course, LW still have to win the final overall. But don't put it past them.
thanks observer - the final article from the indendent is very interesting indeed. Despite the picture it paints, it makes me feel a little happier that we are not a lone voice in the premiership cartel versus the rest of the league debate. Perhaps the campaign will gain some momemntum with a nice juicy legal case testing the waters. Come on Welsh! (never thought I would hear me say that)
so it's Welsh v Pirates Final. Want Welsh to go up & Newcastle to come down - but do I get the feeling that RFU will have the final say - to look after the Premiership cartel.
So RFU have made their decision - oh what a surprise. In addition, surely Welsh will be less motivated to win the final now anyway. If they lose, any legal action will be futile.
Cum on U Welsh boys - we need a good high profile legal scrap.
I can't help feeling that all the non-premiership clubs (and I'm including National League clubs here too) really need to club together a support LW in any legal challenge. There are so many things about this decision that stink, including the timing of the announcement. Arghh!
Now that LW have been ruled out as far as eligibility for entry to the Premiership is concerned, it looks as though the RFU have once again got the teams they want in the premiership. Everyone agreed it was the right step taken in having the bottom team in the Championship going down and only the top 4 teams fighting it out to see who goes up but as far as promotion into the Premiership is now concerned, there will only ever be Bristol, Leeds or Nottingham who will be eligible unless other teams build or buy a suitable stadium. It will require more than the building of a 5000 seater stand to increase the capacity to the 10,000 needed for Premiership eligibility. Even a well backed club like Jersey would, I suspect, find it difficult to improve their ground enough. The likes of Worcester and Exeter may be a long time in coming again. A couple of years ago, a Bedford fan told us they would be happy just staying in the top eight of the Championship as it would be too difficult to survive in the Premiership. If that becomes the mind set for most or all of the other teams, the Championship could just fade away or become just another "non-league" rather than a springboard into the Premiership and lets face it, if that did happen there would be a corresponding knock on effect regarding the leagues below the Championship. It might be that a combined challenge to the RFU by Non-Premiership clubs is what is needed. Maybe the RFU/Premiership will need to put their hands in their pockets and help out Clubs who want to mount a genuine campaign that will enable them to become eligible for Premiership status. Maybe what I have just posted is simplistic or idealistic and as a result will never be possible, but I am afraid Rugby/the RFU needs a shake up to keep it healthy at levels lower than the Premiership. Having said that, Come on you Mooooose.
............ The likes of Worcester and Exeter may be a long time in coming again...........
Ken, you MAY be right, but Exeter have scared the bejasus out of the complacent old farts, who see Welsh, Pirates, Bristol etc queuing up to similarly displace members of the cozy cartel iin the next few years. Snatching at the straw of the totally unnecessary "Primacy of Tenure" condition makes me think they are getting desperate. Time to get the OFT to show some cojones with this protection racket and sort it out for good methinks.
I also think it is a disgrace that the RFU are hiding behind the primacy of tenure to keep out Welsh. How many times have Irish and Wasps had to play on Sundays because the football teams played on the Saturday? Too many!! I hope Welsh put in a legal challenge to the decision and that the other Championship clubs support them.
It is about time this issue was sorted out once and for all. If a team wins promotion they should get promotion and be given time and RFU financial assistance to improve their facilities. It is the only way that we are ever going to increase the numbers of big clubs, which in turn will then produce more English players for the national side.
An ideal would be two divisions of similar strength. The premiership play offs could then be an end of season affair between the top two in each league with champions of each league based on the season as it should be, rather than the champions having to win a short cup competition.
What you say is true tonyd, they have used "primacy of tenure" as an excuse to keep out teams when some existing Premiership teams don't have it. Hypocritical or just something they missed? It looks to me as though the RFU may have given Welsh a good argument for the fight. If they have I hope not just Welsh but all the other clubs below the premiership, not just the Championship clubs, support them. What I am also worried about though is the fact that by applying Primacy of Tenure as the excuse this time, if they make it stick, they have still left themselves the "Ground Capacity Requirement" card (10,000) to let them choose who they have in the premishireship next time. Boy can they wriggle. Come on you Mooooose (get behind Welsh).
There's also some discussion on Rolling Maul site about Championship teams creating a fighting fund for LW similar to what happened in 2002 when Roth were excluded. I know the club's views on this have been laid out several times in Moseley Matters but are they likely to make a formal statement denouncing the RFU's decision?
