Champ Rugby: Championship rebranded for start of next season

The Championship will be rebranded Champ Rugby from next season in an overhaul of English rugby union's second tier.

It will feature 14 teams, with the division's top six at the end of the season entering play-offs to decide the title.

The champions will then have the opportunity to earn promotion to the Premiership, via a play-off against the top tier's bottom side.

There will be automatic relegation to third-tier National 1 for the 14th-placed Champ Rugby side.

The 12th and 13th-placed side will also meet in a one-off game, with the losers playing National 1's runners-up, external for the final place in the second tier.

Richmond, National 1 champions in 2024-25, and Worcester, who have been resurrected after going bust in 2022, will join the league in 2025-26 to make it up to 14.

The announcement follows work done by the Tier 2 Board, chaired by Simon Gillham, who is vice-president of French Pro D2 side Brive.

Gillam stressed throughout the Champ Rugby launch briefing that "aspiration and jeopardy" were at the centre of the new format.

The Rugby Football Union hopes that Champ Rugby will become a stronger piece of its player pathway, and help to develop the next Henry Pollock, who spent some of last season with Bedford Blues.

The league has new branding and a promotional video, external that comes with the strap line "Welcome to the proving ground".

The play-off structures are similar but not identical to the movement between the Top 14 and Pro D2 leagues in France.

Click here to read article