FITTINGLY, the Rugby Football Union's response to being investigated for foul play was to deny everything.

It says all you need to know about English Rugby's Bastille that even when the humiliation of being probed by the Office of Fair Trading became public, the reply was an utterly dismissive one.

'We've received from the OFT a notification of a request to provide information about the introduction of certain criteria, which is alleged prevents effective competition between the Premiership and First Division rugby clubs. The RFU does not believe that it has introduced criteria which prevents effective competition.'

So, over the next month, the RFU will now attempt an escape act Houdini would have been proud of. They will try to justify the unjustifiable, namely stacking the odds against any club who dares to win the National One title.

Rotherham did it last season only to be told to come back next year and interestingly, just as the OFT begins its investigation into the RFU, there are changes to the present guidelines afoot.

"They are currently reviewing the entry criteria for the Premiership," said First Division Rugby's Geoff Cooke.

"There may be some amendments, I don't think anything radical but hopefully they will make things clearer to those involved. The way in which it was dealt with last season was dreadful to be honest so we are hoping things will be easier this season.

"There are obviously grey areas such as the subject of primary tenants at grounds. Rotherham believe that they have satisfied that issue by moving to Millmoor before March 31 this year. That is their interpretation but we need to know whether it will mean promotion if they should win the title."

Cooke, who is executive director of FDR having moved from Worcester this year, is now hoping that a 'pre-audit' of grounds and facilities before December should put outstanding issues to bed.

"Hopefully they should take place before the end of the year and officials will come to the grounds and make it absolutely clear what the club's position is.

"It looks like it will be a two-horse race again between Worcester and Rotherham and I think both clubs are confident that they meet the requirements this season. It needs to be in black and white though."

Cooke made the submission to the OFT last month outlining three main problem areas within the promotion/relegation structure.

First, that under Premiership regulations any promoted club would be deemed a junior B shareholder in the league and receive only £1 million, while the other 11 clubs were paid £2 million per season. Second, FDR said it was unfair that promoted sides could not share with football clubs unless they enjoyed primacy of tenancy, when Saracens, London Wasps and London Irish, who already play at football grounds, clearly did not.

Third, any promoted club that was immediately relegated would receive only £720,000 as a parachute payment. An established Premiership side, such as Wasps, would get £2 million.

Premier Rugby was also attempting to introduce regulations preventing National One clubs from employing foreign players, a position from which they have since backed away.

"We have asked whether what they are doing is unfair and against the law," added Cooke. "The union has the right to govern the game, but cannot ignore the laws of the land."

If the RFU and Premier Rugby are found guilty, they stand to lose up to 10 per cent of their annual turnover. Cooke, though, is adamant that the ugly face of rugby cannot be allowed to continue.

"What the RFU and Premier Rugby have done is simply unfair and we feel, and so do the OFT now, that there is a case to answer. It has taken a long time but it looks as if things are now moving in the right direction.

"The OFT hopes to make an announcement mid November time so that is encouraging."

The RFU's public shaming has been followed with great enthusiasm in these quarters but the serious question has to be -- who will take responsibility if a guilty verdict is reached?

Surely, if the governing body of English Rugby is shown to be a fraud then the farce of Rotherham's wipe-out last season should be reversed.

Give them an automatic promotion place and offer a second for the National One runners up. That would be justice. One suspects, though, that justice is still very much off the agenda inside the Bastille.