By Dragons' Den
September 21 2011

Tonight the Championship teams start their B&I Cup campaign. A new format, an Exile derby but probably the same lack of interest. Dragons' Den feigns enthusiasm in a brief look at last season's competition and wonders whether this year will be any better.     

For the second season in a row the London Welsh foray into the B&I Cup could hardly have been described as a success. The pool once again pitted the Exiles against Bedford, Moseley and Ulster but with Neath and Swansea making up the contingent from the WRU clubs. Qualification for the latter stages was made easier with the introduction of quarter finals  - an attempt to ‘improve’ the format.

The first game of the tournament saw Welsh snatch defeat from the jaws of victory handing Moseley, our regular cup nemesis, a 24-21 win at ODP. The situation deteriorated further with a  44-14 annihilation at Bedford and the win against Ulster proved too little, too late.

If the failures on the field were embarrassing then it was nothing compared to the public slanging match that erupted between London Welsh and Swansea. December’s snowfall led to a last minute cancellation of the home fixture and the two clubs then failed to reach agreement over a new date. Instead accusations of blame bounced backwards and forwards across the Severn including teams refusing to travel, not having facilities for evening games, running part time squads and so on. Certainly not the finest hour for these famous clubs. In the end the RFU and WRU stepped in and insisted that the match was played on Sunday 27^th February, some two months after the original date and less than 48 hours after Welsh took on Neath at The Gnoll. Friday night at The Gnoll was another moment that London Welsh supporters may well want to forget. Torrential rain left the match in doubt until almost the last moment and it was the home side that ran out 14-7 victors.

It would be foolish to claim that that the Cup was held in affection by anyone, possibly even the Cornish Pirates and Bristol supporters that have seen their team lift the trophy. If we are to be generous and consider the competition to be misunderstood rather than unloved then the decision this season to follow the format of the LV Cup will only add to those confused feelings. In a nutshell, the teams in each pool don’t play each other but play the teams from another pool. Therefore Welsh (and the other clubs in pool 4) face the teams in pool 3. The fixtures line up as London Scottish (a), Bedford (h) Aberavon (h) and Leinster (a).

The results of the Cup are always unpredictable as it is never known how seriously each club is taking the event. The allowance to add players from lower leagues to your squad (specifically for this competition) only increases to that uncertainty and the early team announcements for tonight’s matches between Championship clubs have already shown wholesale changes from the starting line-ups for the last round of league matches. Those pushing for promotion or expecting to battle against relegation might be well advised to rest key players for a Cup that most consider to be meaningless and a drain on limited financial resources.

For London Welsh will the lure of a possible league and cup double be a big enough lure to take the competition seriously? A victory over our near-neighbours would be the perfect response to the disappointing result last Saturday and would also start to answer the question as to which is the top club in Richmond.

Kick off tonight is at 7.30. Richmond Athletic Ground.