By Andrew Reynolds

As we take a break for the first games in the British and Irish Cup, you would expect that the league would be taking shape after the first 6 rounds?

Newcastle and Bedford sit at the top and are due to meet in a few weeks time; both remain unbeaten although Bedford and Rotherham shared the spoils with a 38-38 draw.

But look below them and there are a few surprises. Nottingham in 3rd, Plymouth sit in 4th great to see them back in the mix after their financial worries of last season, followed by Leeds and Rotherham, OK no real surprise there, but where are Bristol and Cornish Pirates? 8th and 9th with only two wins each, who would have thought that of last season’s Semi and Finalists?

Mosley and London Scottish have picked up wins, against Bristol and Cornish Pirates respectively they must be very happy with the start they have made, two clubs remain without a win surprisingly Doncaster who have one of the largest packs in the league alongside Rotherham, and the new boys Jersey.

In the past I have been critical of the consistency of the standard of refereeing, I’m pleased to say that there has been a marked improvement this term, it appears that last season’s Premiership and Championship officials have been mixed and are now considered as one pool. The result from where I stand is that players know what to expect and so do the crowd that said I’m sure any Nottingham fans reading this would disagree when Bedford scored in the 93rd Minute to win the game? However this just confirms my point, Nottingham tried every trick in the book to slow the second half down and in the past, 3 or 4 minutes would have been added, but not this season.

For once the talk in the bars and club houses is of the quality of rugby and not the poor decisions of the officials, there is one moan which I guess is being heard around most Championship club houses, the coverage on Sky.

On average the amount of coverage the Championship gets on the Sky Rugby Club programme is one minute, this is the second tier of English Rugby, the RFU confirm the importance of the league to develop English players of the future, surely the average viewer is far more interested in this than Southern Hemisphere rugby, the length of the show has been cut by 30 minutes. Surely this should be reversed, after all, we can all do without Australian Aerobics at least one day a week.

Normally the Cup allows clubs to blood fringe players, but for these two weeks some need to find that winning formula, by the time we have all packed away our Christmas trees the league will be over half way completed. By then I think all that will be certain is that Newcastle will be clear at the top, Bedford and Nottingham will be in the mix for second and third and forth will be anyone’s guess surely Bristol and Pirates have to string some results together soon?

Lastly a special mention to London Welsh, they are doing the Championship proud I feel they will still be in a dog fight come May to stay put, Sale and London Irish have to start winning soon? Let’s not lose sight the Welsh finished 4th in the Championship last term, this would suggest that the top 4 can more than hold their own in the Premiership; this just shows how much this league has improved?

Follow Andy on Twitter @mrandyreynolds