Rae: Good to see promotion back
WITH promotion a realistic possibility for Championship clubs heading into the new season it has created renewed excitement levels across the league.
Coventry head coach Alex Rae is a huge advocate for the second tier and believes the Premiership‘s bottom side Newcastle will now be fearful.
Saracens were relegated in the 2019-20 season due to a points deduction, but no teams were demoted in the following two seasons as part of Covid recovery measures.
The RFU has ratified a home-and-away play-off between the bottom-placed Premiership club and the winner of the Championship, providing they meet the minimum standards criteria which have been relaxed. One of the main points is a stadium capacity of at least 5,000 as long as they have a four-year plan to increase their capacity to 7,500 and eventually 10,000.
Coventry’s Butts Park Arena holds 5,200 but Rae is cautious not to get too carried away due to the RFU’s vagueness in their statements so far.
In recent years, only Doncaster have been given the green light for promotion after Castle Park passed the ground-grading test, but last season they finished 25 points behind champions Ealing Trail-finders.
Rae, right, told The Rugby Paper: “I’ve had people who aren’t even rugby fans ask me about the possibility of promotion, so it’s created a bit of a buzz. As players and coaches we want to be at the highest level and it would be a fairytale bringing a club up. Exeter were the last team to have built something and gone up, the gap gets bigger and it’s become harder and harder but it’s now a lot more exciting. Newcastle will be looking over their shoulder a little bit more.
“It’s still very unclear what the funding would look like if we went up and there’s a lot of information needed which isn’t there. The stadium attendance change is great but there’s still a lot of big boxes you have to tick. We are ambitious and if it suited, we are one team that could sustain promotion with the crowds we get as they would only grow. I’m sure we’ll have three of four sell outs with over 5,000, so we’re ready to make the step up.”
Coventry have lost Will Rigg (Exeter), Will Wand (Leicester) and their Tongan World Cup star Pat Pellegrini (Moana Pasifika) but Rae remains positive about his 13 new signings, which include new fly-half Tommy Matthews.
He added: “I was surprised we kept Pat for as long as we did. He’s a really unique player and there was always going to be a time when someone sniffed around him. He wants to play in Tonga, so playing for Moana is the perfect place for him and to play in Super Rugby has always been his dream. We’re never going to stand in someone’s way if they are looking to go on to bigger and better things.
“It goes to show if you’re a standout player in the Championship you’re clearly ready for higher honours. Tommy has got a really good skillset, he’s a good person and has fitted in our group well. We’re getting used to how he plays but he’s got some good competition from a young local lad Theo Mannion, and Liam Richman who we signed from Edinburgh.”
Coventry enjoyed a successful Premiership Cup campaign last term – including a 28-14 win over Saracens – but missed a place in the last four by a whisker. Rae feels they illustrated their credentials to go deep in the competition which starts in early November.
“We were disappointed to not qualify for the semi-finals last year; a couple of minutes from beating Gloucester, drew with Harlequins and beat Saracens,” said Rae.
“We really enjoyed the competition and have got a great draw this year playing Leicester, Northampton and Nottingham. The two Premiership games should be sellouts and we’ll take a lot of fans away.”
