As fiery confrontations go, they do not get hotter than this. For seven months, the disappointment of being refused entry to the Zurich Premiership - because their administration and facilities were deemed not up to it - has burned at Rotherham. And tomorrow's Powergen Cup tie against Bristol is the cauldron in which the first division leaders intend to prove they belong with the best.

Rotherham's response to their controversial knock-back by England Rugby Ltd last May has been impressive. Anger at the rebuff turned to a hardened resolve to retain the National League One championship, and they travel to the Memorial Stadiumunbeaten in the league. It is 12 months since they last lost - when they fell to Saracens in the Powergen Cup.

"It goes without saying that our priority is the league, but Bristol is far more than a distraction for us," the Rotherham coach Mike Schmidt said this week. "We are challenging our players to prove we have the makings of a Premiership side. I'm still in shock about what happened at the end of last season and this is our chance to make a point. To go through 2002 unbeaten would be something, but Bristol are in a rich vein of form and they will be far stronger than any side we've faced this season.

"I wondered about my future last May, as did all the players. The club's owner Mike Yarlett had kept everyone on full-time contracts following our relegation from the Premiership the year before, but he could have been forgiven for cutting his losses. Fortunately for us he did not but, when the Premiership owners argue against relegation and talk about their investments and the futures of their players, they should consider the squads and managements at clubs like Rotherham and Worcester. We have mortgages to pay and families to look after as well."

Last Saturday Rotherham had their closest match of the season, when Orrell put up a spirited resistance at Millmoor before losing by two points. Was it, perhaps, a reaction to allegations made earlier in the week - by Cecil Duckworth, owner of Rotherham's closest rivals Worcester - that the Premiership owners had set up a slush fund last season to tempt the Yorkshire club into making sure they failed the criteria?

"Not at all," said Rotherham's chief executive, Jim Kilfoyle. "A number of our players had a flu bug but the bottom line was Orrell played bloody well. We are used to allegations being made against us and they are like water off a duck's back. We are far, far stronger because of what we have been through."

What rankles with the Rotherham captain Chris Johnson is that his side should be playing Bristol as of right and not because of the luck of the draw. It is 13 months since they lost a league match but, even if they finish top of the first division at the end of the season, their place at the top table will not be guaranteed.

"Bristol gives us the chance to see how far we have come," said Johnson. "People are saying we have won the first division title already but we still have to go to Worcester, Exeter and Orrell. We should be in the Premiership because we did everything asked of us, and the attitude of the players has been positive after the trauma of last May. We know what we want."

Twickenham this week set up an inquiry panel headed by a QC to look at the slush fund allegations. "A waste of time and money," said Kilfoyle. "The Rugby Football Union's chief disciplinary officer Robert Horner met the Premiership owners and told them he had not been given any evidence to back up the claims, and he then sets up an investigation. Into what?"

Rotherham have been snared in the inquiry because of an allegation that Yarlett was aware of the slush fund and therefore prepared to thwart the ambitions of his own players and management.

"It's absolute rubbish," said Schmidt. "I was with Mike when the news that we had failed the criteria came through: he was shattered, and I have no doubt his commitment to a club he played for and captained remains total."

Johnson agrees: "Mike has the backing of all the players. If the inquiry finds the allegations have substance, the culprits will be dealt with and rightly so. But what if they are found to be baseless: will those making them face any punishment? It seems attempts to undermine us are always being made, but they will not put us off."

It should all make for a lively encounter against Worcester at Sixways next April. "We have nothing against the Worcester players or their supporters," said Kilfoyle. "They are a very good side, but there is someone there stirring things up and, if by some fluke they did win the division, it would be interesting to see what they would do if they failed the criteria."

For their part, Rotherham are confident they will be shipshape and Bristol fashion when it comes to the dreaded criteria. "After all the smoke that's been billowing around lately, I do not think there is a snowball's chance in hell the first division winners will be turned away this time," said Kilfoyle.

"We have no fears about the criteria: winning the division is the far tougher challenge. Bristol will be a great opportunity for us. We belong in the Premiership and we are out to show why."