So the Premiership Cup is to remuster in yet another guise this autumn as a joint competition with the Championship sides which I would greet with cautious optimism, the keyword possibly being ‘cautious’.
The format will be 24 teams, four pools of six with five straight weeks of rugby during the World Cup, followed by semi-finals on February 9-11 and a grand final over the weekend of March 15-17, exact dates to be confirmed nearer the time.

The Premiership teams badly need some footfall and cash flow during the World Cup and that probably seems the main driver here although you would hope t...