Premiership boss Simon Massie-Taylor has revealed the plan remains for the league to be expanded to 14 teams after next season.
Promotion and relegation would then resume at the end of the 2023-24 campaign via a play-off between the Premiership’s bottom side and the Championship winners
“The intention was that we were moving to a 14-team league so it was disappointing that Ealing didn’t pass the standards and come up,” revealed Massie-Taylor.
“The expectation is that there’ll be promotion next season then the agreement is promotion, and relegation after that. That was what was agreed by the RFU council.
“It is still the intention to have relegation going forward after this moratorium that was really important from a Covid recovery perspective.
“It was the right decision in order to preserve the 13 clubs that have existed within the Premiership. It’s a miracle that they’ve survived after what has gone on over the last few years.”