MONEY talks – and when there is a threat of it being withdrawn Premiership clubs and their owners listen. That is the main conclusion to be taken from the last-minute decision on Friday which delayed the RFU Council’s potentially incendiary vote on whether to rubber-stamp a mid-season change to the 33-year promotion- relegation regulations between the Premiership and the Championship, in favour of a ring-fence. The opposition to the move came from some of the RFU/Premiership’s commercial partners – with broadcaster BT Sport in the vanguard.
Their view, quite rightly, is that the competitive ...