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.

- BEN JAYCOCK

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 Trailfinders.