Relief for Exiles as their promotion is confirmed by RFU

THE sigh of relief coming out of Old Deer Park would have been audible for all to hear.

For the past few weeks, London Welsh have been in limbo, wondering what their fate would be.

They had been sitting top of London 2 North West, 19 points clear of the third-placed side, with two teams to go up and just four games left

But with the remainder of the season being cancelled due to the coronavirus outbreak, everything was suddenly up in the air.

In Wales, Scotland and Ireland, the league campaigns had been declared null and void, meaning no promotion and relegation.

London Welsh feared the same thing might happen in England, consigning them to another season down in the seventh tier.

But, on Friday, anxiety was replaced with delight, as the RFU declared they would be going up after all.

The Union had decided there would still be promotion and relegation within the league pyramid, with final standings based on a playing record formula.

Essentially, they looked at each team’s average points per game for completed fixtures and applied that to all remaining matches to come up with a projected final points tally.

The end result is the Exiles have been crowned winners of their division and now progress to London 1, probably the northern section, although that is yet to be confirmed.

It’s a third successive promotion for the famous old club, who continue their phoenix like rise from the ashes, having dropped down to the very bottom of the league pyramid in 2017 after going into liquidation.

Speaking to director of rugby Cai Griffiths, it’s clear just how much the news means to them.

“It’s an absolutely massive relief,” said the former Ospreys prop.

“The RFU said a couple of weeks ago that the season was cancelled and they were looking at what to do about league positions.

“With the other Unions coming out and saying they had null and voided the leagues, we were thinking ‘Oh God, this is going to happen to us as well’.

“But I think our saving grace was they had to do something regarding Saracens and that might have forced them to have a look at a different model of how to finish the season off.

“The way they have tackled it, with the algorithm and how they have done it, is pretty fair.”

Griffiths continued: “We started this journey in June-July and there’s just been a massive effort from all the players, coaches, backroom staff and everyone involved to get us to the strong position we were.

“For the RFU just to go, bang, we are voiding it would have been a massive kick in the guts.

“The fans we have are incredible and it would have been a kick to them as well.

“We have 600-800 people at our home games and some Championship teams don’t have that.

“The momentum would just have been killed off if we had to start again. So we are delighted with the way the RFU have done it. I think it’s very fair.”

It really has been riches to rags and back again story for London Welsh over the last few years.

As recently as 2015, they were playing the likes of Leicester, Bath and Saracens in the Aviva Premiership. But then, in December 2016, the club fell into liquidation in the wake of mounting financial problems.

And, a month later, they were expelled from the second-tier Championship, with the professional team ceasing to exist.

So the club had to drop all the way down to the ninth tier of English rugby, starting a new life in Herts & Middlesex Division One.

But over the last three years, they have risen again, losing just one match per season, in winning three promotions on the trot.

They now head into London 1, which has north and south divisions. They are likely to be in the northern section, alongside the likes of Old Haberdashers, Southend Saxons Harpenden and Colchester.

Bangor-born Griffiths, who is assisted by former Scarlets and Cardiff Blues fly-half Steve Shingler and Will Taylor, has played a big part in the club’s rebirth and was named coach of the year at the National Rugby Awards.

He has had plenty to be relieved about of late, not just with the team’s promotion but also having recovered from a bout of coronavirus.

“I must have had the mild form of it, but it did wipe me out for four days and I am never, ever sick, either,” said the 36-year-old.

“But I’m just glad it’s all behind me now.” .