On Rugby: Next Saturday will be a rare day in the sunshine for the AIB League at Lansdowne Road. Shannon will meet Belfast Harlequins in the title decider, while St Mary's-UL Bohemian and Greystones-Instonians will contest the Division Two and Three finals. The cream of the crop in their respective divisions, the games should reflect pretty well on the Irish club game.

Shannon remain the standard-bearers of the domestic game while the nouveau riche Belfast club has shown a willing ability to garnish such days with an expansive approach. Likewise, the Division Two and Three finalists can afford to swing from the hip with relatively little at stake.

A personal preference would still be to provide more meaning to the Division Two and Three finals. A play-off system could be introduced whereby the divisional winners are automatically promoted at the expense of the bottom club in the division above them. The clubs placed two to four along with those who finish second from bottom in the tier above could go into semi-finals, with promotion/relegation at stake when it comes to the Lansdowne Road decider.

But that is hardly the most pressing issue facing the AIB League. Recently, representatives of the All-Ireland Senior Rugby Clubs Association (Aisrca) met the IRFU's AIL working party committee to discuss the format for the All-Ireland Leagues next season.

The IRFU's flawed provincial-based proposal for a redesigned league in its strategic review at least forced the clubs to knock heads and start discussing their future. Although recognition of the Aisrca was slow in coming, it is to the union's credit they now acknowledge the input of people who are willing to give their time to the club game and have an insider's knowledge.

As the compromise solution neared, of three divisions divided into 16 clubs each and in turn divided into two conferences of eight, the clubs began to have second thoughts. And so Aisrca decided to canvass the position of each senior club on whether they would prefer a straight league with three divisions of 16 teams playing each other once, or the previously agreed format of two conferences of eight in each division with the eight playing each other home and away.

An overwhelming majority of the clubs preferred the former, and the union have reacted favourably. It is probably the lesser of two evils. Hence, for the next two seasons at any rate, the league will effectively revert to where it was before Wanderers' infamously waterlogged pitch and the ensuing legal wrangle forced a redrawing of the AIL map to accommodate them in an expanded Division Two.

However, no one in their right mind can claim this is the ideal scenario. One of the reasons Wales have caught up with, and perhaps overtaken, Irish rugby is not just that they buried traditionalism and self-interest to ape our (and the Southern Hemisphere's) module for four provinces/districts etc, but that underneath their club game is significantly better.

For standards to improve in the club game, and especially Division One, the top flight needs to be trimmed, not expanded. This isn't rocket science. A recent excursion to a UCD-Belfast Harlequins game (featuring a host of aspiring young players, such as outhalves Eoghan Hickey and Ian Humphreys, and others on provincial contracts), followed by video viewing of the Shannon-Clontarf tie, showed that despite falling crowds and media interest (the two inextricably linked) the standard is not nearly as bad as generally perceived, at least near the top of the table. Even the relegation dogfight between Lansdowne and Trinity, again featuring an influx of contracted players, was a damn good game.

But a division is only as good as its weakest link, and a top flight of 16 teams as opposed to 14, is liable to worsen standards rather than improve them. Ideally, the top flight should be reduced to a dozen teams and renamed the Premier Division.

A format could be devised to ensure representation from all four provinces, such as a minimum of four from Leinster, three from Munster, two from Ulster and one from Connacht. Thus, no matter how the clubs finished, there would still be scope to ensure a minimum of two relegation places while retaining this basic provincial spread, with two teams coming up from a Division One. The remaining 36 clubs could be divided into two divisions of 18, perhaps in turn divided into two geographical regions or conferences of nine apiece, or three more divisions of 12 each. Of course, this would be akin to turkeys voting for Christmas.

Regardless of the format, more could be done to help the clubs, or for the clubs to help themselves. Their proposal for an All-Ireland Cup of 16 teams, comprising six qualifiers from Leinster, five from Munster, four from Ulster and two from Connacht (with one first round play-off) is an exciting proposal.

One wonders if the way television dictates ever-changing Celtic League kick-off times at the behest of Setanta is worth the relative pittance they've reputedly paid, because it certainly messes around the clubs. Even so, the clubs could help themselves by being a good deal more flexible, and failing that, the AIL working party could be more favourably disposed to requests for changing kick-off times from the traditional 2.30 slot on Saturday afternoons.

The clubs' request to the union to have contracted players more readily available is valid, as is their plea for more financial assistance in funding professional coaches. This might be something the union can afford if funds increase from the potential use of Croke Park and ultimately a redeveloped Lansdowne Road.

If there was a greater concentration in the top flight that would help but, alas, would require more lateral thinking and less self-interest.