The Rugby Football Union's intimation that they may look outside of the Premiership to provide this country's entrants in next season's Heineken Cup has been met with widespread rejoicing and ringing of bells around the National One parish.

Even at this stage of the season, where only two teams have anything to play for – Otley and Moseley's battle at the bottom is the only outstanding issue, I can't see Waterloo doing a Lazarus – there is genuine excitement.

It's all based on comments made last week by Martyn Thomas, the RFU's chairman. Apparently without a hint of irony, Thomas made the following statement that sent me scuttling for cover in case pig faeces was about to fall from the sky.

"If the Premier League clubs decide not to participate, we do have a second division," he said.

On a personal basis, I have no axe to grind with Mr Thomas, I met him at Keresley Rugby Club last summer and found him convincingly committed to improving the lot of those whose trotters are not firmly planted in the Trough of Plenty.

But speaking as he was, on behalf of an organisation which is so disinterested in anything outside of the England team and those pesky-top flight clubs from where they must draw their players as to border on contempt, I am completely incredulous that the RFU could say something like that with a straight face.

And this is where a note of warning must come. Enjoy your dreams about seeing Bedford or some other pawn playing at Thomond Park or Stradey Park or enjoying a nice weekend in Italy, but never stray from the knowledge that the First Division is being used like an old toilet brush. In short, beware geeks bearing gifts.

The Trojan Horse might be stuffed full of money for one season, but it'll soon run out. It'll be little more than a one-off gesture to convince clubs with proud histories to prostitute themselves as the RFU makes its point in a wider political battle.

That's not to say I wouldn't love to witness Brian O'Driscoll at Sharmans Cross Road, the sheer incongruity and Bees' predilection for cup upsets would make it a must-see, but the whole notion poses more questions than it answers.

Chiefly, just when would the tournament be played? The current National One season lasts 35 weeks, into which 30 games and the National Trophy must be squeezed. A minimum of 31 games, therefore.

As this season's European fixtures last nine rounds including the final, a relatively straightforward mathematical process reveals that it can't be done.

Doing away with the National Trophy would free up five weeks but still not sufficient time for any side that gets anywhere in Europe. What would be the solution then?

Maybe National One could be reduced, with either no-one coming up from National Two or more than two sides going down; four, perhaps. That would need to be expedited at the end of this season in time to collate next season's programme.

For supporters of Moseley, Otley and Sedgley Park, that would cast a rather less exciting sheen to the whole concept of playing abroad.

What about the European Challenge Cup, which is currently entered by the bottom half of the Premiership? With six places in the senior tournament, that would mean ten National One clubs going into the second-string competition. Doesn't a trip to Viadana sound fun?

Not if you're already operating at financial capacity. Which club in its right mind would sacrifice what could amount to a couple of players, just so they could spend a few days in Ireland?

OK, let's do away with the Challenge Cup. No one's really interested, anyway. What hope would Rotherham, Doncaster or Cornish Pirates – who, incidentally, don't have their own ground - have of beating Munster or Leinster, or even Glasgow Warriors, come to that?

They'd need massive commercial underpinning to attract the sort of players who could even countenance the prospect, most of whom would only stay for one season until the French decide they can commit once again and the English follow suit. That doesn't sound a very progressive way to build a club to me.

I know.... franchises. Why couldn't Moseley, Bees and newly-relegated Worcester form a single side to challenge the Irish might? Or if Northampton come down, they could join forces with Coventry, Nottingham and Bedford. No prizes for picking a team out of that lot.

Which bring us neatly to the subject of those fallen Saints. Somehow, Northampton are still in this year's Heineken Cup and face the possibility of winning the thing and going down from the Guinness Premiership in the same season.

Under existing regulations, that would preclude them from defending the trophy but, if the RFU want Level Two teams instead, that could make it worth Northampton's while accepting demotion just to play again in 2007-8. It's a trade Worcester fans would accept in a blink.

But hark, is that the cavalry on the horizon? The RFU would apparently be willing to underwrite the costs incurred in travelling to foreign parts.

Which only raises this question; why not fund National League sides properly in the first place? It would be the best way to neuter those bally Premiership boys. After all, you do have a second division, you know.

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