Championship rugby club ceases trading

The professional side – which confirmed the news this morning (28 September) – added that liquidation now appears inevitable unless a solution can be found in the very short term. It made the move amid a continuing backdrop of uncertainty about the future of English rugby’s second tier. 

The decision came with an admission that the club would be unable to pay September salaries due this week, and would not be travelling to south-west England to fulfil the scheduled Friday night cup fixture against Cornish Pirates. 

Reds chairman Mark Morgan said: “We had been able to start the season and maintain sufficient funds to cover the summer, but regret that our conversations with potential new investors as well as existing ones have been unsuccessful.

“At one stage at the end of last season it appeared there was a viable way forward for the second tier once the new Professional Game Agreement was implemented from summer 2024, but Championship clubs have been left in the dark since that point and this led to a growing fatigue among those who may have invested, but could not be given any concrete assurance about when the new structure would come in, or how it would be funded.”