London Welsh and London Scottish have had talks with the Pro12 League over the possibility of quitting the English leagues for the Celtic competition.

Standard Sport can confirm the clubs have held “informal” discussions but there are significant hurdles to clear if they are to eventually join the tournament which features Welsh, Irish, Scottish and Italian teams.

The clubs are members of the Welsh Rugby Union and Scottish Rugby Union respectively, as well as the Rugby Football Union, and any move would need the agreement of all three governing bodies.

The attraction for the Pro12 League of including the Welsh and Scottish exiles is that it would open up potential financial links with the City of London.

Tomorrow, London Scottish play the second leg of their Championship play-off semi-final at Worcester, trailing the tie by five points, but their Richmond ground does not meet Premiership criteria, so they cannot be promoted.

London Welsh, meanwhile, are heading back to the Championship after a season in which they have lost all 30 games. Their head coach Rowland Phillips is adamant that reports about a switch of leagues are not impacting on his squad.

He said: “Talk about the Pro12 isn’t a distraction and all I can say is that it’s an interesting thought but just speculation at the moment.”

Phillips, who replaced Justin Burnell as head coach in March having initially joined as defence coach, is confident Welsh can win promotion next term and has already signed 16 players for the campaign.

There are still a couple of games to go this term, with Welsh facing possibly their two toughest tests. On Saturday they go to reigning champions Northampton and they then host title-chasing Saracens a week later.

Phillips, who was interviewing another prospective signing yesterday, said: “The key focus for us is an immediate return to the Premiership from what is a very tough Championship.

“We are signing new guys but have also retained players because you don’t want to lose the essence of what we are about as a squad.

“Playing Northampton away and then Saracens at home in the final game would be a big ask for anyone in the Premiership but we are used to this kind of challenge.

“I don’t know how the players have been fronting up every week after some heavy defeats and it gives you hope that we have a group who are ambitious. That helped with my decision to accept the role of head coach.

“We won’t bow down and get flogged in these last two games — we will continue to fight and show pride.”