London Welsh will appeal RFU promotion ruling

RFU Championship winners London Welsh have confirmed that they will launch an appeal against the RFU’s ruling that they are not eligible for promotion to the Premiership.

London Welsh won the RFU Championship but will not replace Newcastle Falcons as the RFU announced last week that the Exiles did not meet the minimum standards criteria for entry into Premiership.

The club normally play out of Old Deer Park in Richmond but have said that they will play their home matches at Kassam Stadium in Oxford in order to comply.

“We shall be lodging an appeal in the very near future,” club chairman Bleddyn Phillips said.

“In parallel, we are pursuing all other available opportunities to make sure we can take our rightful and deserved place in the Aviva Premiership.”

London Welsh beat Cornish Pirates 66-41 on aggregate but the title will mean little if they are not promoted and newcastle Falcons relegated.

An independent audit ruled that as London Welsh did not have primacy of tenure at the Kassam which is the home of Oxford United FC they did not qualify.