Attempts by Premiership club owners, and the RFU executive, headed by Bill Sweeney, to bounce English club rugby into an American franchise model of a ring-fenced top league will almost certainly be rubber-stamped at Friday’s RFU Council meeting at Twickenham.

Whether the fall-out ends there is another matter.
It is a controversial landmark decision which divides English rugby, not least because a key adjunct is expected to be the suspension of a 38-year English merit-based promotion and relegation model, with no access to the Prem until 2030, and probably far beyond.
This will leave the am...