IF YOU were former Leicester and Harlequins coach Dean Richards, I wonder if you would be feeling a bit gutted at this point.

With the end of his ban over the 2009 ‘Bloodgate’ affair looming, a couple of months ago he agreed to take on the director of rugby role at Newcastle Falcons this summer.

I just wonder whether he’s thinking ‘what if I held on a little bit longer’, the vacancies at both Bath and Gloucester having come up since.

I’m glad I don’t have to make the decision as to who Bath’s new top man would be but someone like Richards would be my choice.

He enjoyed great success with Leicester and Harlequins, playing winning rugby and I would have loved to see someone like him in place at Bath.

As it is, he is now facing the prospect of trying to bring Newcastle back up if, as expected, they are relegated after the last round of Premiership matches tomorrow.

The one-off nature of their match against Wasps means they still have a chance of avoiding the drop and sending a famous name like Wasps down instead.

Some people will have you believe that the relegation/promotion format is not a good way for rugby to plan, business-wise, but I think that’s the excitement of it.

Who would have called that a club of the stature of Wasps would be fighting for their lives?

And it’s surely no coincidence that two of the clubs that suffered relegation in recent years are now in the Premiership top four.

Both Northampton and Harlequins went down, got their houses in order and came back stronger and now look at them.

Also, without promotion/relegation, we would have no Exeter Chiefs, who have been a breath of fresh air, in the top flight

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