The ARU Management Board agreed on Fri 22 Sep that relegation from the ARU Premiership competition would be suspended for a year to allow the expansion of the competition from 10 to 12 teams. The additional two teams will be those that win through and compete in the final of the ARU Community Cup. Director of Army Rugby, Brigadier Rick Libbey said

"When we established the Premiership in 2005 we decided that 12 teams would be the maximum and 8 the minimum; this would allow for the inevitable unit churn from operational commitments. Over the first 2 seasons of the competition 3 teams have had to withdraw as a result of operational deployments two of them this season, which leaves us with our minimum of 8 teams. In the event of further withdrawals we could find ourselves with an untenable number, we have therefore decided to suspend relegation this season and announce that both Community Cup finalists will be invited to take part in the Premiership Cup next season. This will give us 12 Premiership sides rather than 10. Further details on play-off finals will follow shortly."