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Premiership Rugby 20/21 Season

Can't see Bristol not getting 5 points form the Leicester game.
So big game for Sale against a team in worse form than Tigers post covid.

Bristol and Sale both face two of the bottom 3 teams (Not counting Sarries) next round also.

If Bristol and Sale both get 5 points really puts pressure on Bath v Saracens and Wasps v Exeter.
 
Can't see Bristol not getting 5 points form the Leicester game.
So big game for Sale against a team in worse form than Tigers post covid.

Bristol and Sale both face two of the bottom 3 teams (Not counting Sarries) next round also.

If Bristol and Sale both get 5 points really puts pressure on Bath v Saracens and Wasps v Exeter.
Bath won't be playing Saracens in the 20/21 season....
 
Rugby Paper reporting that relegation will be scrapped for this season,
13 team season next as, in theory, there will still be promotion from the championship

Be interesting to see wtf they do with the 21/22 season - double relegation?
 
Rugby Paper reporting that relegation will be scrapped for this season,
13 team season next as, in theory, there will still be promotion from the championship

Be interesting to see wtf they do with the 21/22 season - double relegation?
The no relegation thing I'm sure is right, the 13 team league thing seems bizarre. Why not bring Ealing up too?
 
Times suggesting it might be 14 teams in 22/23 as they can't really relegate on the back of assumed results. Ringfencing door ajar and no doubt the calendar has room for the extra games.
 
Why not bring Ealing up too?
Might be alone in this but I don't get the hype,
I know they've got a sugar daddy that talks the talk, but they don't have the ground and don't really have the results either

They're the best of the rest, atm, but there's still daylight between 1st and 2nd every season.
I don't think a 20pt gap warrants automatic promotion - that's the distance between 1st and 6th in the premiership last season

Obviously things could change this season, and maybe they'll win the champ, but people are saying they should be promoted if the season is cancelled, which I don't agree with
 
Ealing are a product of make enough noise and people will get hyped.
Their academy is alright but it's pretty embarrassing when they are putting in ads in the SA media for 16-20 years olds to send footage for their academy. Considering you are in a city with a pop of 9 million people.

They get what like 3 digit attendances for their games?
It will never be feasible IMO for another London club we have 3 already and none of them get massive numbers and the league would be better served looking at a club like say Pirates or a northern club, if the league goes to a ringfenced 14 teams.
 
Yep. Ealing have bought they way to the upper reaches of the Championship but I think that's as far as they can go. For all the reasons Tigs Man has outlined, I just can't see how they could ever become a sustainable Premiership club.

It's a shame there isn't a more obvious contender for another club in the North, but at the same time, Leeds/Yorkshire has never worked.

I appreciate it would be unbalanced, but I'd rather a 13 team league than adding a 14th just to even the numbers.
 
The promotion from championship must be made clear before their season starts, whether its just the winners that get promoted or not.
Sarries must not be afforded any privileges .
 
Might be alone in this but I don't get the hype,
I don't either, I'm just saying that it would be preferable to having an odd number of teams in the league. Just my opinion.

My take on the hype is that it comes from lazy journalists who know very little about rugby outside the GP, so talk about Ealing as the next big thing. FWIW, I'm taking it as read that Sarries will win and Ealing will be runners up. I would promote the highest "ranked" two teams who want to be promoted and are capable of passing the entry criteria.

The elephant in the room for me re: Ealing is what happens when Mike Gooley dies (he's 84)? You could make the same argument for other sugar daddy reliant teams, but they all seem more likely to attract another benefactor than Ealing to me.
 
I don't either, I'm just saying that it would be preferable to having an odd number of teams in the league. Just my opinion.
Aye, that's fair

It's going to be a bit of a mess anyway - there's only 6 challenge cup spots so someone's going to have to miss out there, and then the following season they're going to have to relegate 2 (or 3) teams.

If it was a 13 team season you could relegate 13th then have 11th vs 12th as a relegation decider. Spice up the finals weekend.
 
I much prefer that idea.

I guess it depends whether the ringfencing is seen as a temporary measure or whether it's the precursor to it being permanent.
 
Cornish Pirates would be a good one to look at. Id love another northern club...but who is there, that wouldnt need some considerable investment.

Rotherham?
Nottingham?
Doncaster?
Leeds or Yorkshire or whatever they claim to be this week, would be the best, but again need Massive investment.
Darlington MP - Great stadium, but a million miles from being a legitimate Prem option.
 

Nottingham?
Ummm....


Donnie is the best bet of that lot, but still lower-mid championship level - would need some serious investment to get them up to standard.

Such a shame Leeds dropped off so dramatically - can we find a wealthy investor to try and pump some life back into them?
Mel B from Spice Girls? Keith Lemon?
 
Ummm....


Donnie is the best bet of that lot, but still lower-mid championship level - would need some serious investment to get them up to standard.

Such a shame Leeds dropped off so dramatically - can we find a wealthy investor to try and pump some life back into them?
Mel B from Spice Girls? Keith Lemon?
Nottingham...more Northern than Ealing ;)
 
Cornish Pirates would be a good one to look at. Id love another northern club...but who is there, that wouldnt need some considerable investment.

I haven't heard any news from the good ship Pirate for ages, but the song remains the same as far as I know - all ambitions are contingent on getting the Stadium For Cornwall built. I believe that they are still waiting for the money that David Cameron promissed when he was on the campaign trail for the election before last. The goal posts have moved so many times since then that I find it hard to keep track of things, so that may be out of date information. Unlike other teams, they don't have the option of renting the local football ground, the nearest would be Home Park, which is IRO 80 miles away from Penzance.

The club seem bullish about it being the answer to providing level 1 rugby in Cornwall, but I am yet to be convinced that it alone would provide sufficient funds.

Rotherham?
Nottingham?
Doncaster?
Leeds or Yorkshire or whatever they claim to be this week, would be the best, but again need Massive investment.
Darlington MP - Great stadium, but a million miles from being a legitimate Prem option.
Roth and Donny seem to be well run outfits who are where they are thanks to strong fundraising efforts within the membership / local community. Their benefactors' pockets are only so deep, so without a single big benefactor, I think they'd fight shy of the GP.
 
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