The bolt from the blue came on the eve of the penultimate day, or, if you prefer, eight days after the last day of the regular season. The FIR, in the Federal Council held on this last Saturday of April, resolved, for the current season, the blocking of relegations from the A Elite to the Serie A (effectively Lyons Piacenza and Vicenza were rediscovered) and from the Serie A to the Serie B , resulting in the remodeling of next season’s championships. The A Elite will be made up of ten teams (and not eight), while the Serie A (the second domestic tournament) will be made up of 40 teams, divided into four groups of 10. Contrary to what was expected before the start of the current championship , there will be no division between A1 and A2. In other words, for Unicusano Livorno Rugby (as well as for most of the other teams currently playing in Serie A) the remaining two matches have no weight and no meaning. The only points of interest in the last 160 minutes of scrums and tackles are related to the fight for access to the playoffs, the confirmed phase which, as expected at the beginning of the season, will involve the top teams of each of the three groups and the best second place . Barring unlikely twists and turns, CUS Torino, Verona, Lazio and, as best second, the Cavalieri Prato/Sesto will participate in the playoffs. Then, for the rest, there are no practical differences between Avezzano – who, to give a concrete example, are concluding their brilliant championship, in third place in group 3 – and Paganica and Primavera Roma – who, in the same group they are fighting to avoid last place -. Unicusano Livorno Rugby, which occupies fourth position, regardless of the amount of points it will collect this Sunday on the Avezzano pitch and its result in the match on May 5, at home against Lazio, will play next season in Serie A . In Serie A, 35 of the 36 teams currently involved in the same championship will be at the start (all except the one that will be promoted, after the playoffs, to Elite Serie A), the four promoted from Serie B (Piacenza Club, Romagna, San Donà, L’Aquila, first in their groups) and, presumably, the best second in Serie B (almost certainly Lecco).
