It turns out there might have been something to play for in the Zurich Premiership last weekend after all. Rotherham may yet gain access to next season's Premiership, having been told by the board of England Rugby Ltd the week before last that their facilities at Clifton Lane did not come up to scratch and that their ground-share plans with Rotherham United were not sufficiently rubber-stamped. ERL consequently denied them the right to promotion from Division One - the league that they won in some style this season. But the Office of Fair Trading are launching an inquiry into the affair, investigating whether the Premiership have acted as an illegal cartel in denying Rotherham promotion.

Officials from OFT are meeting tomorrow with a group of MPs who are campaigning to have the decision reversed, including Derek Wyatt, the ex- England international. Should the decision be reversed, Leeds would be relegated as the team that finished bottom of the Premiership, prompting no doubt a further appeal to cloud rugby's waters. If promotion and relegation are reinstated, Leeds's last match against Gloucester, which they lost lamely, will take on huge significance retrospectively. Is it right that Leeds should be relegated on the basis of that match, which had become a nothing game once relegation had been abolished?

Will it ever end?

The Super 12 meanwhile, marches on to its dream final with reigning champions the ACT Brumbies joining this season's form team and the Brumbies' predecessors as champions, the Canterbury Crusaders, for a tumultuous clash in Christchurch on Saturday. The Crusaders, the first team to survive the round-robin stage of the Super 12 unbeaten, booked the first berth in the final with a 34-23 victory over their South Island rivals the Otago Highlanders. The Brumbies seem to be finding their form at just the right time and they took the other final spot with an authoritative 51-10 victory over the New South Wales Waratahs in Sydney.