As Shugs rightly says, "The RFU now have to sort that out". Lets hope they do in a way which is fair and beneficial to all.
Their own rules have ended up giving them a conundrum to unpick. Don’t forget the PRL are reportedly trying to shed a team as well. Who knows how that works! Completely agree the outcome needs to be fair to all.
The bit that needs sorting out urgently is Worcester. If they are to continue in the Championship it causes a big headache If they don't then it's quite an easy fix, Wasps hit the Championship and whoever wins (likely to be Ealing) get promoted to the Prem, 12 teams in each, so no real change.
the issue comes if they decide they only want 10 in the Prem at which point they have a major issue as they need to relegate someone else, and I can only see that ending up in court as they stated no relegation this year as the plan had been to get the Prem upto 14 clubs.
maybe not looking too deeply at conspiracy theories but I wonder if the goings on at Worcester are giving them a good excuse to have two 12 club leagues.
Yes. And/or. If one or two more clubs cannot continue to finance players to the cap. Suppose two clubs started lowering wage offers substantially, to get down to maybe £1-1.5m a year? Started saying to players who were likely to leave because oof this, if you want to go, find a new club now and we will release you?
With 'no relegation' this year, they would be safe doing that. Cutting costs massively (and as time goes by, costs drop), but keep the PRL money coming in, and watching attendance fall down to their core support? Not mentioning any names (Falcons and Irish). In effect, if only one club goes 'down' each year, one of those two clubs keeps that up for two years and maybe survives with no loss of face.
Which prompted me to go look at the PRL table. Haven't done that for a while. Bristol at the bottom, Bath at 8th. Two clubs with all the money, but not the glory. However, the two clubs I expected there are there or thereabouts in 9th and 10th; Falcons and Irish.
Two teams out, one in. Two teams without a sugar daddy out, one with a sugar daddy in.
It still leaves the PRL with a problem. They need to get rid of one team (net) in the PRL. They need one more to go under. If those two clubs I mentioned aren't going to play ball and do that, they still have a problem. At some point, two teams have to go down, or one team goes down with no promotion (for Ealing).
And then, depending on what happens at Worcester (at this time they are gone completely), more than one club will be relegated from the Championship to keep that at 12.