Friday 29 April 2016 15:05, UK
Dewi Morris says it's crunch time in the Championship as Bristol, Yorkshire, Bedford and Doncaster battle it out for promotion.
May is make or break for those Championship sides looking for promotion to the Premiership. With the regular season behind them, Yorkshire Carnegie host Doncaster and Bristol travel to Bedford in the first leg of the play-offs.
Bristol are the bookies' favourites and my favourites to do it this year but we said that last year and look what happened! They have got to get their heads right and I think if they don't get to the Premiership this year then it is their own fault and heads will roll.
Having finished top, Bristol have decided to go away to Bedford Blues. Bristol beat the Blues 39-6 in the last regular game of the season so they will be confident going into Sunday's encounter. Bedford have no Premiership aspirations - they did not ask for their ground to be credited to Premiership status, so if they do go on to win, they will not be promoted. That does not mean they will take this game lightly, though; the Blues are a rugby-mad town and are very competitive. If the fairy tale does happen, they will simply take the money and stay in the Championship.
It should be a great occasion. The only sour note is that Bedford captain Nick Fenton-Wells not feature in the play-offs after it was announced that he will join Bristol at the end of the season.
Replacing him at No 8 is the evergreen Paul Tupai who has had a remarkable career with Bedford. The 41-year-old is going to play a massive role for Bedford in the back-row.
Jake Sharp at No 10 is another Blues player to look out for. He has been voted into the Championship dream team - on his day he is one of the best, but on another day he can disappear. The Blues will be hoping that he is at his best come Sunday.
Sharp will be up against Callum Sheedy who has not played that much rugby this season, although he was excellent for Bristol last weekend. He will have to control the game and also make sure he kicks his goals - Bristol know that they have to take every point on offer and a lot will rest on Sheedy.
Lock Ian Evans is the player who I think Bristol missed the most last season and I think his control and influence will be very evident in the set piece - as proved last week.
The other two teams vying for the Championship final are Yorkshire Carnegie and Doncaster Knights. I was talking to Yorkshire coach Bryan Redpath a couple of weeks ago and they are having a real tilt at promotion. They have all the structures in place and like Bristol, have a good catchment area to grow their squad. However, they have to get past one of the most consistent sides in the Championship, Doncaster.
Two players who will be crucial for Yorkshire will be Ryan Burrows at No 8 and fly-half Kevin Sinfield. This is Sinfield's swansong in any code and he would love to help Carnegie make it to the Premiership. He will be really instrumental in how Yorkshire want to play.
Doncaster have been fantastic this season. They have lost five games and drawn two games - compared to Yorkshire's eight losses.
Under the tutelage of Clive Griffiths, Doncaster have been absolutely outstanding and can mix it up with the best of them.
Two players to look out for are Latu Makaafi in the back row and at No 9, Michael Heaney. Makaafi is a massive ball carrier for the Knights and really aggressive and that is what they are going to need.
Heaney has been excellent for Doncaster this season too - he controls his big, roaming pack very well and also gets the most out of their very talented backs.
Both of these games should be crackers and I wish them all the best of luck; I doubt if anyone is getting much sleep at the moment as the pressure builds.
Investment needed
Finally, I would urge the RFU to invest further into the Championship and really develop this incredible hotbed of rugby talent. The Premiership sides do pick from here but if the Championship could get more professional we could develop even more players and would not have to go overseas for all these superstars.
Some of these clubs are being run on peanuts but still manage to produce some brilliant players. We need to make sure that the gap between the Premiership and the Championship does not get so wide that no one can cross it. It has to be sustainable so that a team like Worcester can come up and stay up like Dean Ryan's boys have done this year.
