Ending the Exile

London Welsh managing director John Taylor talks about the club's bid to break into the top-flight.

Ambitious Championship outfit London Welsh are confident they can come to an agreement that will allow them to be in the mix for promotion at the end of the season. The Exiles have been serious contenders over the past few years - with them losing out in the promotion play-off semi-finals in successive seasons - while they are currently just a point off top spot. However even if the Old Deer Park-based outfit had gone on to win the title in 2009/10 and 2010/11 then their route to the top-flight would have been blocked as they did not meet the minimum criteria set out by Premiership Rugby Ltd and the Professional Game Board. London Welsh, though, have been buoyed by on-going negotiations they and other Championship clubs have had with the PRL and the RFU. Managing director John Taylor told skysports.com: "We believe now there has been a real shift in the PRL, where they have already changed their stance. "The initial thing we felt was that you could look at the way the regulations and minimum criteria and that were formed and think, 'There is no understanding here, or is it a deliberate misunderstanding as they want to create a closed shop'. "A number of the Championship clubs - Nottingham, Cornish Pirates, us in particular - have decided we really need to engage these guys and find out where they are coming from and it has been encouraging. "They're now looking at ways to help the Championship clubs meet these criteria whereas before we felt that they had been set in such a way that it was almost impossible to do." Taylor believes the main stumbling block for clubs is the fact they need to meet the requirements set out by PRL and the PGB by March 31.

Nightmare

And Taylor insists this can spell financial ruin for clubs if they then fail to secure promotion on the field. "I think the speed of that change is still perhaps not fast enough for us but one of the issues, for example, is that the RFU along with PRL requires us to meet the minimum criteria by March 31 and that has to be irrevocable which is almost a recipe for financial suicide," said Taylor. "If we were to have to put in interim arrangements contractually done by March 31, we don't know whether we will be promoted until May. So if we haven't got situation that is a flexible where we can say, 'If we get promoted we will do that, but if we don't get promoted we will stay where we are because it costs a fraction of what it would cost to move to there', then it would be a nightmare for us. It would be a situation where we couldn't commit without knowing. "We are encouraged that there is a much more inclusive feel about the way the PRL are talking to us and dealing with us. Their approach is that they are not trying to create a closed shop but something that is viable but they are mindful of the fact they need a healthy Championship as well. I think there are a few more shifts to go and that flexibility really is everything. "If we were to commit completely by March 31 to a plan for next season if we were promoted, it would be financial suicide. "Our job over the next few months is to move their thinking because these regulations aren't constitutional regulations or anything like that. They are regulations that they have set so we have got to get them to see the common sense of being more flexible in their approach. "What we have done is inform the RFU we are working on a plan that we hope by March 31 will satisfy their minimal requirement and that we do want to be considered for promotion." John Taylor was speaking to skysports.com at the Rugby Expo event at Twickenham. For more information about the 2012 Rugby Expo conference, please visit www.rugbyexpo.com