RFU in talks over expanded 13-team Premiership with promotion play-off

The RFU board were on Wednesday meeting to discuss proposals to expand the Premiership to 13 teams and end automatic promotion and relegation.

A shake-up in the format of the Premiership, the top tier of English rugby, has been mooted for some time, particularly when private equity firm CVC Capital Partners bought a minority shareholding of 27 per cent in Premiership Rugby in December of last year.

The deal was worth around £200million and shortly after the idea of scrapping promotion and relegation entirely was speculated.

That concept was not on the table on Wednesday but they were set to discuss expanding the top tier to 13 teams and having an end-of-season play-off between the bottom team of the Premiership and the top team in the Championship.

Any proposals are unlikely to be pushed through for next season, meaning that Newcastle Falcons would not be reprieved after their relegation to the Championship.