Posted by Plymouth Albion 8 – 33 Bristol Rugby
By Ben Sturnham
Bristol moved on from the positive performance against Coventry, with an emphatic away victory against Plymouth Albion on Saturday. A packed Brickfields Stadium is not an easy place to get a win, especially when the ground is soft and the Plymouth forwards begin to rumble.
Paul Hull: League would be in uproar if promotion format was changed now (Picture: Gary Bray / UNiCOM www.unicomsystems.co.uk)
It appears that Bristol have upped their game and intensity levels. A bonus point away win has moved them up to second in the Championship table. This newly found confidence and form bodes well for the top-of-the-table clash against Nottingham this weekend at the Memorial Stadium.
Speaking to Bristol24-7 Bristol head coach Paul Hull said he was “delighted” with his side’s recent form and demanded “consistency of performance” for future games.
Consistency will certainly be key, considering the long, hard slog facing Bristol in the coming months as they attempt to regain their top-flight status – a job that Hull says has been made easier by the recent demise of fellow Championship challengers Birmingham.
Last month, the Midlands club was forced into voluntary liquidation with outstanding debts of £93,000 to the Inland Revenue.
Although a new company has been formed, the RFU has docked the club 15 points and is demanding evidence that all other financial and legal issues have been dealt with to their satisfaction by the end of the month.
“We are sorry to see the club going into liquidation”, Hull said. “But at the moment we have played every weekend, either in the League or imminently in the British and Irish Cup Competition, and we will not get a free weekend until February next year.
“It has been a long slog, and injuries and fatigue will begin to take its toll on our squad. If Birmingham are unable to play the return fixtures in the League, we will feel sorry for all concerned, but will take advantage of the weekend break that this may give us.”
It makes for grim reading when you cast your eye over the Championship League table and see London Welsh and Birmingham with points deducted for their financial woes. Add to this the rumours that the League format and final play-off details are still being debated and you must wonder what on earth is going on?
This is a very serious matter, as promotion to the Premiership requires meticulous planning and forethought. At the moment there could be a number of possibilities; a ‘one off’ final, a ‘two-leg’ final at a neutral ground or an RFU showpiece played at Twickenham. As far as I am concerned, it is just ludicrous that these details are not in place even though we are now in mid-November.
Hull was furious when asked about the possibility that the Rugby Football Union and Premier Rugby Limited were currently discussing changing the promotion system back to ‘one-up, one-down’.
“That is outrageous, there would be absolute uproar if the League structure was changed at this stage in the season,” he said.
I agree there would be mutiny, but ‘they’ changed the format of the League last year and at Christmas, halfway through the season.
In mid December 2008, it was controversially decided, against the majority feeling of the clubs, that five teams would be relegated from the old National One, to form a twelve-club, fully professional Championship. This seemed, at the time and even more so now, like a mistake of epic proportions.
Fast forward twelve months and two Championship clubs are teetering on the edge financially and many others are very publicly struggling to survive. Only six clubs are, what I would call, full-time professional. So was it an informed and viable decision to underpin the Premiership with an inadequately funded Championship? I think not.
If the overall format were to change, Bristol are not well positioned for promotion, as they will have to rely on Exeter slipping up. There are also many other pressing issues that would need addressing. For instance, what would the players do with themselves from March onwards, without play-off games? How would the clubs generate revenue for lost gate receipts?
Whatever the outcome, I hope that the RFU and PRL do not stay true to form and act in the best interests of the clubs. Bristol24-7 will keep its ears to the ground for the latest on this most controversial of topics.
Ben Sturnham is a former Bristol and England forward, now writing exclusively for Bristol24-7
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