Former PREM team confident they will take place in Champ next season

Rotherham Titans will return to Champ Rugby for the first time in eight years in 2026/27, subject to meeting the RFU’s Minimum Operating Standards (MOS), after sealing the National One title with a 34-26 win over Sale FC.

Saturday’s bonus-point win ensured the Titans finished four points clear of Blackheath FC at the top of the National One table, and brought the curtain down on a thrilling season in English Rugby’s third tier.

Now the Titans have until June 1st to satisfy the powers-that-be that they have everything in place off-the-field to be eligible for promotion and directly replace Cambridge, who are guaranteed to finish bottom of the Champ.

The RFU’s 25-page MOS document details all the requirements, which include having a 2,000-capacity ground, with a minimum of 200 seats and 500 covered places. Rotherham’s Clifton Lane home ground can hold 2,500 spectators.

DoR Martin Jenkinson acknowledges they still have some things to do, such as erecting a media gantry, but is confident that they won’t be denied their place in the Champ because of a boardroom decision.

“As far as I am aware, we tick all the boxes that they’ve given us. If they said we didn’t, it would be a surprise to us,” he told RugbyPass.

Rotherham’s ability to improve their facilities has been aided by the sad demise of Rotherham Town Cricket Club, who they used to share Clifton Lane with.

Any plans for ground improvements on the open side of the pitch used to be compromised by the fact that the cricket square had to be protected.

However, due to financial problems, the 120-year-old club pulled out of the Yorkshire Southern Premier League and, for the first time in living memory, no cricket was played at Clifton Lane  in the summer of 2025.

Sadly, the cricket club lives on in name only, but for the Titans it makes life easier when it comes to guaranteeing fixtures and upgrading that side of the pitch.

Meanwhile, the Champ ambitions of Blackheath and the league’s best-supported club, Plymouth Albion, are not yet over, subject to them meeting the MOS.

For Blackheath, a 10th straight victory (52-28 vs Clifton) ensured they finished second in the table, three points clear of Albion, who will now travel to London to face rugby’s oldest club in the National One promotion play-off on May 9th.

The winner of that play-off will then enter the ‘Champ Accession Final’, on May 23rd, where they will play the loser of the Champ Relegation play-off between the teams placed 12th and 13th in the league (either Richmond or London Scottish), which is scheduled for May 16th.