Pirates urge RFU not to axe play-offs
CORNISH Pirates veteran Chris Morgan reckons the RFU will make a huge mistake if it succumbs to Premiership demands to scrap the Championship play-offs.
Premiership clubs are desperate to see the end of a controversial system that has contributed to ambitious Bristol being held back – a position flanker Morgan fully understands having come through Bristol’s academy during the early Noughties.
However, he believes play-offs must be retained and that England’s top three divisions would benefit from a radical shake-up by consisting of 14 teams each.
Morgan, 34, told The Rugby Paper: “My feeling is the RFU and Premiership Rugby are hanging the Championship out to dry and rather than stifling promotion opportunities, they should be expanding the leagues and encouraging more teams.
“Going to 14 teams in each of the top three divisions, with one up automatically from the Championship and National One and another via fourteam play-offs, would really open things up and create a huge amount of extra interest.
“I’m not against the top team going up, but play-offs keep the season alive and, as we’ve seen in the Championship since they were introduced in 2009, the league’s become a lot more competitive. But if you take that away, what have you got?”
Morgan, right, added: “When you look at last season’s Championship play-offs, you had Doncaster filling Castle Park, which was fantastic to see. But if you remove that incentive and it becomes a one-horse race, where’s the interest after Christmas?
“If you look at National One now there are some really strong clubs like Coventry, Darlington, Plymouth and Rosslyn Park who want to be in the Championship, so let’s give them a proper go by introducing play-offs at that level as well.
“The RFU’s a rich union and apparently they want the Championship, but the gap between our league and the Premiership is only increasing because of the wage cap and the whole structure of our top three divisions needs looking at. “The top two divisions in France are well-funded and their third tier is strong as well. Play-offs work there and it’s a model we should follow.” Pirates are now flying solo as the West Country’s representatives in the Championship following Bristol’s ascent to the Premiership. With London Irish being their nearest road trip, 270 miles away in Reading, Morgan’s side will clock-up mammoth 7,000 miles on 11 away games next season.
“It’s tough, there’s no two ways about it,” Morgan said. “Getting out of Cornwall’s not too bad, but the journeys back after defeats can be hell.
“There are some pretty horrible trips traffic-wise, but they give us a really good chance to bond so we always try to treat them as a positive.
“Everything for us is overnight, or even two nights now, but the flipside is teams must come to us and the Mennaye Field is a hard place to visit.”
Budget cuts and a smaller squad make life even harder for the Pirates, but Morgan believes they can thrive under new coaches Alan Paver and Gavin Cattle.
He added: “There’s a bit of apprehension but there’s optimism as well because we haven’t had a great turnover of players and there’s continuity. The transition to Alan and Gavin has been pretty seamless and they both command huge respect, so ambition here remains just as strong.
“It’ll be harder with London Irish coming down with a massively strong squad, but they might get a few shocks and we’ll hope to provide one.”