EXCLUSIVE
By NEALE HARVEY
CONTROVERSIAL RFU plans for Premiership clubs to ‘buddy-up’ with their Championship counterparts have collapsed after top-flight sides blocked the move.
Innovative proposals by RFU professional rugby director Nigel Melville would have enabled hardup Championship clubs to utilise up to a dozen first team players from topflight partner clubs, along with an unlimited number of academy youngsters in need of game time.
Premiership Rugby’s ALeague would in turn have been scrapped, with playing and coaching resources diverted to Championship clubs under ...