Cornish Pirates chief welcomes Champ Rugby rebrand

Cornish Pirates are fourth in the Championship this season, and finished second last year

Cornish Pirates chief executive Sally Pettifer has welcomed changes to English rugby's second tier.

The Championship will be rebranded The Champ from next season, with former Premiership side Worcester and National One winners Richmond joining to make it a 14-team league.

There will also be promotion and relegation play-offs, although the winning side will still have to meet the Premiership's minimum standards in ground size if they are to go up.

"We want a strong and robust and competitive league so I'm actually rather pleased about it," Pettifer told BBC Sport.

"I'm particularly pleased there are play-offs. I'm less pleased that the route to promotion still seems to be a very rocky one.

"I think we have moved forward slightly - promotion and relegation is enshrined in English sport and you have to have opportunity and jeopardy - we really care about that.

"It's disappointing that the standards really exclude so many of us.

"It's extremely difficult for some of us, particularly Cornish Pirates, to meet the standards that would allow promotion not on the pitch, but off the pitch."

The rebranded and expanded second tier will launch next season

The announcement ends uncertainty over the future of the second tier of English rugby, which has been hit hard financially since the Covid-19 pandemic.

Central funding has dropped from about £600,000 in 2019 to about £150,000 - and last year champions Jersey Reds went bust.

And while the additional matches will mean Championship clubs will no longer have time for the Premiership Rugby Cup, Pettifer hopes some of the acrimony between second-tier clubs and the Rugby Football Union (RFU) will end.

"We're a fantastic league and we're now much more self-determining and we'll go forward and get stronger," she said.

"You've seen at Pirates that regardless of the RFU we've got stronger and stronger.

"We've taken destiny into our own hands and we've made ourselves strong because we have to, and actually this Champ league is now about that on a 14-club scale.

"So we're stronger together and we're a fundamental part of the development of talent in this country."

Cattle and Paver agree new deals

Former Pirates players Alan Paver (left) and Gavin Cattle will start their 10th season in charge of the side

Meanwhile, Cornish Pirates have confirmed that joint head coaches Gavin Cattle and Alan Paver have signed new contracts to lead the club into the 2025-26 Champ Rugby season.

The duo have been in charge of first-team affairs at the Mennaye since 2016 when Ian Davies stood down as head coach.

The pair led Pirates to a club-best second place in the Championship last season.

"Alan and I have been given credit, but we mustn't forget we have a fine team of support staff behind us," Cattle said.

"There are not masses of bodies here, however we have been very fortunate that everyone goes above and beyond."

Paver added: "Obviously, I am delighted that I'm continuing my teamwork with Gavin and, more recently, with Joe Walsh who has taken on a lot of the responsibility this year.

"We know we are going through a transition stage as the club looks to stabilise, and I feel Gav and I have a real good handle on how that works and what we need to do year-by-year. Our passion for the club and the community is always there."