With today’s announcement of this season’s Premiership Cup competition’s groups and fixtures, the RFU have outlined the reasons for the non-invitation and participation of both Cambridge Rugby and Chinnor RFC.
An RFU Spokesperson said: “The RFU, Premiership Rugby and Championship Executive worked together on the format for the Premiership Cup for the 2024-25 season. It was agreed that a 20-team competition provided the optimum competition format as the competition evolves this coming season, with discussions on future formats and qualification processes already happening. Last season’s format with 22 teams was felt by the clubs to take place over too many weekends and the bottom two teams did not play any home games against Premiership sides.”
Cambridge Rugby chairman Tim Hague had this to say: “We are hugely looking forward to our next Championship season, despite the disappointment over exclusion from the Premiership Rugby Cup. In the face of direct funding cuts from the RFU, PRL have insisted that the Cup competition comprises 10 sides from the Premiership and 10 from the Championship, so two sides have to miss out. This was decided on a ‘seeding’ basis – with ourselves and Chinnor losing out on two home Premiership fixtures and another against a Championship side.
“Whilst this is logical, it’s not really ‘fair’. As such we have asked for significant compensation to offset substantial income loss from both missing out on bumper Premiership fixtures and the consequent loss of home gates and hospitality income. The other issue is a 7-weekend hole in our fixture list, which means a lack of continuity and momentum. We are, therefore, working hard on securing fixtures for these dates, and have many irons in the fire. We’ll confirm these soon – and there are some very attractive options. We move on, and we have contingency plans, as this has been a possibility for a while”.