WORCESTER will be playing Second Division rugby this season after Rotherham lost yesterday's High Court case against the game's ruling bodies.

But Sixways' chief executive Geoff Cooke said further action could follow to give clubs in the division more chance of promotion than a single play-off place.

Rotherham had brought the case against English First Division Rugby (EFDR) and the RFU claiming the merger of Richmond, London Scottish and London Irish had broken the Mayfair Agreement signed in 1998.

But Mr Justice Ferris ruled in favour of the game's ruling bodies after their counsel argued that the Leicester Agreement, signed the previous year, was all-powerful.

A clause in that agreement gave the EFDR and RFU the power to decide on league numbers which therefore meant no notice was needed.

The High Court decision ended potential fixture chaos in England but Cooke said Second Division clubs may now have a greater chance of promotion on the pitch.

"If the Mayfair Agreement wasn't binding it causes other problems such as the promotion and relegation issues," he said.

"It may take us back to a previous agreement which meant we'll have one promotion place and a play-off.

"We're due to have a meeting of the Second Division clubs at Worcester today so we hope to learn the full implications then.

"The one certainty to come out of yesterday's case is that we'll be in Division Two but I would have been flabbergasted if we had suddenly been promoted," added Cooke.