• RFU meets on Wednesday to examine London Welsh bid
• Exiles have right of appeal should RFU rule against them
London Welsh will not find out whether they have met the minimum standards criteria for entry into the Aviva Premiership until a few hours before the first leg of their Championship play-off final against Cornish Pirates in Penzance on Wednesday night.
The Rugby Football Union's board of directors meets that morning and will examine the issue of whether London Welsh, who propose to move out of their Old Deer Park home and play at Oxford United's Kassam Stadium if they are promoted, fulfil the criteria.
The professional game board last Thursday discussed the report of the auditors who assessed London Welsh's bid – the Pirates are not candidates for promotion because they knew they would not meet the criteria – but did not make a recommendation to the RFU.
It is understood that the PGB was divided, with representatives from Premiership Rugby questioning whether London Welsh met the stipulation regarding primacy of tenure. The Kassam Stadium should meet the criteria: it has a capacity of 12,000 and staged two Challenge Cup finals in the 2000s.
London Welsh are not concerned that if the RFU ruled against them it would have a negative impact on their players ahead of the game at a ground where they lost by 21 points in the regular season. The Exiles have an immediate right to appeal, something they would exercise with alacrity through their chairman, Bleddyn Phillips, a senior partner at a major law firm.
London Welsh have told the RFU that it would rather the governing body take its time than rush into a decision. The fact that the board of directors is discussing the matter as part of its regular monthly meeting, rather than deciding by conference call on Monday would indicate that the club's case is considered to have merit.
Leicester's director of rugby, Richard Cockerill, has settled his differences with the England coach, Stuart Lancaster, following their public spat last week over the fitness of the fly-half Toby Flood. The Tigers refused to allow England's physio to assess the player last week but diplomatic relations have been restored ahead of this weekend's Premiership grand final.
Cockerill said he and Lancaster have had "a healthy discussion" and considers the matter closed, although he is still declining to confirm who will start at No10 against Harlequins at Twickenham. "Me and Stuart get on pretty well," said Cockerill, who last week described the England coach as "naive" in his handling of the Flood issue.
"In the future we will discuss things a bit more closely and hopefully avoid any flashpoint or confrontation. He's a good guy. Occasionally we're going to be at odds with our opinions but that's OK."
The 19-year-old George Ford remains on standby to start at fly-half for the Tigers unless Flood makes a miracle recovery from his ankle injury. "Floody is working hard and improving day by day," said Cockerill. "He's not training today [on Monday] but he'll train tomorrow [on Tuesday] and we'll see where he's at. Fordy's an intelligent player … it's not the end of the world." Saturday's game will be Leicester's eighth successive grand final appearance.
The Australia wing James O'Connor will miss next month's three-Test series against Wales because of liver damage, but the outside-half Quade Cooper is expected to be named in the Wallabies' squad after recovering from a knee injury he sustained against Wales in the World Cup third place play-off.
The Wales caretaker head coach, Rob Howley, remains hopeful Warren Gatland will be able to join the squad at some stage in Australia.
Gatland, the head coach, is recovering from the serious heel injuries he suffered in a fall at his holiday home in New Zealand in April. Read More
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