THE HERALD REPORTS
KEVIN FERRIE June 30 2006
The Scottish Rugby Union\'s annual meeting at Murrayfield tonight is likely to be dominated by a series of plans to overhaul the domestic game, including the scrapping of consolation cup competitions.
In a move to provide clubs with a fairer chance of reaching the end-of-season finals day, it is being proposed that only clubs in the three Premiership divisions would take part in the main cup competition, with the Shield contested by clubs in the four National Leagues, and the Bowl for those involved in regional competition.
Under the current format, suspicion has grown that some clubs from higher divisions have thrown matches in the cup in order to get into the Bowl and Shield, thus enhancing their chances of claiming silverware.
Also up for discussion is the shape of the leagues. Premier One is to be cut to a 10-team competition for next season because leading clubs had hoped to be more involved in the development of elite players and, consequently, were planning for increased intensity of competition, including cross-border tournaments.
With SRU officials having explained that they see Premier Division One as the \"pinnacle of the community arm\" rather than a fundamental part of \"the performance arm\", there are now three options on the table.
One would see a 12-team Premier One reintroduced in 2007-08, but the others would mean an immediate change to a five-division, 14-team set-up or six divisions of 12 teams.

This article was posted on 30-Jun-2006, 07:07 by Hugh Barrow.