London Irish have vowed to resist any pressure to sell their stake in the Aviva Premiership from rival clubs who want to establish a 12-team competition.

A group of influential club owners are understood to have raised the idea of the Premiership buying back the so-called “P share” from one of its 13 stakeholder clubs and then pulling up the drawbridge by ending promotion and relegation. It is the most radical ringfencing proposal to have been floated, given that it would effectively kill off the top-flight ambitions of one of England’s leading professional clubs.

The 12 Premiership sides and Bristol own the shares, valued at £9.7 million for each club, according to the tender document published when Worcester Warriors were put up for sale. An