I feel the RFU have underhandedly "ring fenced" the premiership division by insisting on a minimum ground capacity clause - not team performance - before any club can be promoted. On that basis alone it would seem to me that the non premiership clubs that could possibly qualifty for promotion into the premier division is Darlington Mowden.
Promotion should be always be based on team performance alone no matter where a team plays and NEVER, EVER on whose got the most financial clout.
And under those rules a premiership team that refused to comply and play at a low capacity ground because the ground if too small then they should forfeit at least a 28 - 0 and 5 league points penalty.
If we had something like the old John Player cup match back then, at least in the early stages, some of the smaller rugby clubs could have their eagerly awaited moment of glory - or would the premiership clubs, as I rather suspect, be too frightened of losing away to a nobody team where 20 men and their dogs could very well be a full house.
Pure interest only but what happens if the 3 teams at the top of our league end with the same number of points? Is the next reference point the number of wins? I ask because in The Rugby Paper they make Cambridge favourites.
Done in this order: Number of matches won. Difference between points for and against. Total number of points for. Aggregate number of points scored in matches between tied teams. Number of matches won excluding the first match, then the second and so on until the tie is settled. Taken from Wikipedia.