Carnegie aim for promotion but Bristol could yet be saved

Bristol will avoid relegation from the Aviva Premiership if Doncaster or Ealing Trailfinders win the Championship.

The west country club are 12 points behind 11th-placed Worcester with just two games left. But the Championship has revealed that neither Doncaster nor Ealing has applied for an audit of their promotion eligibility.

London Irish and Yorkshire Carnegie, coached by former Scotland scrum-half Bryan Redpath, did apply and met minimum standards criteria, with one of them likely to take the Championship crown next month and therefore secure promotion.

Irish, relegated from the Premiership last term, face Doncasterinthetwo-leggedchampionship play-offs, while Yorkshire Carnegie meet Ealing. The final is also over two games, on 17 and 24 May .

A statement by the Championship, read: “The Rugby Football Union has considered the findings of an independent audit report of the Greene King IPA Championship semi-finalists assessing their eligibility for promotion to the Aviva Premiership next season.

“London Irish and Yorkshire Carnegie met the minimum standards criteria based on the following stadia: Madejski Stadium (London Irish) and Headingly Carnegie (Yorkshire Carnegie). Ealing Trailfinders and Doncaster Knights did not apply for the audit and therefore cannot be promoted.”

A Doncaster statement read: “Having previously looked at promotion, we feel it is simply unaffordable and out of our reach in the current structure and financial arrangement for professional rugby union in England.”