Relegation scrapped in Premiership this season
THERE will be no relegation from the Gallagher Premiership at the end of this season because of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and the threat of legal action.
The Rugby Paper understands that five top-flight clubs have sought legal advice and are confident they would be successful in any case against PRL/RFU if they went down as a result of the points system awarded for cancelled matches, despite the rules being in place and agreed before the season started in November.
Five of the last 18 Premiership matches have been cancelled after adversely being affected by Covid-19.
On each occasion, the match was declared a 0-0 result and a Premiership panel comprising Premiership Rugby chairman Andy Higginson, chief executive Darren Childs and rugby director Phil Winstanley decided the allocation of points, with four league points going to the club who were able to play and two to the other.
Leicester, London Irish and Northampton have had two games cancelled apiece, with Bath, Harlequins, Newcastle and Worcester the other affected clubs.
Saints have picked up 13 league points this season but almost half (six) came through not playing.
Similarly, Worcester’s total of nine points includes four from their cancelled Round 5 match against Harlequins.
With the very real prospect of more matches suffering the same fate unless the spread of the virus is quickly brought under control, the season could turn into an even bigger lottery and it was felt the only course of equitable action would be to scrap relegation.
Gloucester, who have not received any ‘Covid’ points, are currently bottom of the table on six points, three behind Worcester.
A 13-team Premiership next season is looking increasingly likely as promotion from the Championship will still take place. The Championship season is due to begin on March 6, although this is by no means certain to happen.
Meanwhile, PRL confirmed that the last two rounds of European pool matches that were postponed earlier this week will not be rearranged.
Instead the Champions
Cup and Challenge Cup will go straight to a knockout format in April.
European Cup organisers (EPCR) are set to announce the revamped structure of the competitions in the coming week.
“The decision was made by the EPCR executive,” said Premiership Rugby’s chief executive Darren Childs, below.
“The reason we can’t reschedule those is that there are no available weekends. Our season is now full right until our final.
“It was decided very quickly by all three leagues (Premiership, Top 14 and PRO14) that we would complete the (European) tournaments in the last four weekends (in April and May).”
Following a directive from the French government, EPCR said on Monday it had “no choice” but to postpone this month’s two remaining rounds of pool games.
The competitions are still set to be played to a finish, with two weekends reserved for European games in April and another weekend set aside in early May, before the finals weekend scheduled for the weekend of 22 May in Marseille.
Senior league figures say moving Premiership fixtures to fill the void left by Europe “made no sense”.
A number of club bosses, such as Bristol’s director of rugby Pat Lam, urged Premiership Rugby to bring two rounds of matches forward to avoid fixture congestion later in the season and to have more international players available before they are on Six Nations duty.
However, Premiership Rugby director Phil Winstanley said: “We’ve had 70 players in the last three weeks who have tested positive with Covid and we lost five games. It made absolutely no sense to bring games forward to this period of time, when it is our highest risk.”
PRL bosses also confirmed midweek rugby will not return.