Dowson fears top flight is 'sleepwalking' towards crisis

The Northampton director of rugby, Phil Dowson, fears the sport is "sleepwalking" towards another club going bust and endorsed plans for the Premiership to become a franchised league on the basis it would be more appealing to investors.

- Gerard Meagher

Premiership and Rugby Football Union executives have drawn up plans for an "expansion" league, akin to a franchise model, that would allow for teams to be added to the current 10 top-flight clubs should they meet certain criteria. The RFU chief executive, Bill Sweeney, revealed that there is the possibility of expanding for the start of next season.

Relegation would be officially done away with, however. No side has been demoted since Saracens had it forced upon them for salary cap breaches in 2020 and though there was the potential for a playoff between the side who finished bottom of the Premiership and top of the Championship this summer, only Doncaster met the necessary criteria and they are out of the second-tier title race.

Stating the case for an expansion league, this week Sweeney said: "The old traditional one-up, one-down promotion and relegation system doesn't currently work in England." He added: "We need to get new investment into the game."