When we were in division one last year I wrote something along the lines of it was several divisions in one.

In no particular order, at the top there was Saints, increasingly out on our own.

Just below were those that aspire to Guinness Premiership rugby, the Exeters and Pirates etc, and then at the bottom there were three or four clubs that probably yo-yo between division one and division two every few years.

Then the lastly there was what I saw as the problem group, the middle men.

In a 16-team division, it was all too easy for a club to win a few games then tread water in the middle ground, not being threatened by relegation but also not having the resources or in some cases the inclination to strive for the top and all that promotion might entail.

In a division of this size it was all too easy for some clubs to happily exist in this way, and something had to change to make the division more competitive across the board.

The reduction to a 12-team league is a step in the right direction but the decision to have eight of that 12 in the promotion play-offs is just plain daft.

I have never been much of a fan of play-offs anyway, as I thought it only rewards the team that has the best form in May not over the whole season, but to have two thirds of your division playing off for the big prize makes you wonder why bother with a league at all?

The remaining four play off for relegation which in theory means that two clubs could end level on points but end up two divisions apart a month later.

That may not be the main sticking point though as far as the existing division one clubs are concerned.

The RFU are insisting that their injection of cash means that the 12 'survivors' all become professional full-time outfits.

That cash injection is sizeable but nowhere near enough to run what the RFU are proposing, especially when you consider the likes of Coventry and Nottingham already have their backs to the wall.

Let's face it, we visited some of those clubs last year that normally, outside of their big pay day against us, are watched by a couple of hundred people at most making gate revenue minimal.

And at the end of the day there are a lot of players in division one who are quite happy plying their trade on the pitch while still holding down a full time job in the real world.

Could full-time rugby make up that shortfall in pay?

Not in a million years at this level, and those players would be lost.

Nor would clubs want to try and pay those wages, First Division Rugby chairman Geoff Irvine described the whole proposal as 'financial suicide' and he has a point.

One worrying view put forward by the RFU this week was that those clubs that did not want to join the 'Championship' for whatever reason would be replaced by those from the other lower divisions that did.