RUGBY'S governing body has hit back at Exeter Chiefs supremo Tony Rowe's claim that the inaugural Championship season has become 'a joke'.

RFU management board chairman Martyn Thomas defended the league's decision-making and branded Sandy Park chief executive Rowe 'disingenuous' for his comments to Echo Sport last week.

Rowe said the decision to award the Championship's losing semi-finalists 70 per cent of the match revenues made 'a joke of the whole competition' and damaged the league's reputation.

The first season of the Championship has been dogged by criticism and changes to its structure.

A campaign, led by the Chiefs, resulted in the final being changed from a one-off game to a two-legged affair. Bosses then put the season back by a week, decided the majority of the play-off groups with a game still to go and switched the division of cash from the semi-finals.

The latter point was what upset Rowe last week, with 70 per cent of the ticket and programme sales and car parking revenues going to the losing semi-finalists and not the sides that host the games. But Thomas said: "I'm disappointed that Tony has been launching off in the press — it's the old story of criticism of the RFU.

"Everything we have done we have always done following consultation with the clubs. We have gone along with the majority even when we haven't necessarily agreed with that.

"I know Tony Rowe and I have had some good times at Exeter, but I am at a loss to understand his argument that the away side in the semi-final would be better off losing and taking 70 per cent.

"I think he's being a bit disingenuous to put it kindly. Match day revenue includes tickets, programmes and car parking, it does not include hospitality or bar sales and the home side can make some good revenues.

"To say a side would be better off losing the semi-final is to say they would have to believe that is as far as they're going and are going to turn their back on a home final when they would take all the money.

"They get their 70 per cent and the winner gets a final game when they will get all the revenue and also stand a chance of being in the Premiership."

With the final regular season games in the Championship taking place tomorrow, the top six and bottom two seeds have already been set.

Thomas said that, while the RFU didn't agree with doing that before the final matches were played, the clubs persuaded them that they needed to be able to plan ahead.

"The clubs on this one asked if we could, after round 21, set out what the seeds would be knowing there would be one extra game," said Thomas.

"Barring injuries and things like that, the likely scenario is that after 21 of 22 games you will have a good indication of a club's position.

"We said we didn't like the idea but they came back to us with a very valid point. They said 'we want to sell tickets and we need to know the seedings to know whether we're going to be home or away'.

"From a rugby point of view as we sit here at Twickenham we say 'you can't do that, you can't set the seedings up until after 22 games', but we went with what they voted to do."