Canterbury Rugby Club are beginning to plan for the financial implications of winning promotion from National 2 South this season.

Canterbury have been in second spot since the start of the year and hopes are growing at Merton Lane that the city side will be playing in National 1 for the first time next season if they can progress through the play-offs.

But moving up to the third tier of English club rugby will inevitably mean increased costs in terms of player recruitment and wages, and Canterbury chairman Giles Hilton said: “We have already formulated a finance sub-committee which is looking at the commercial arm of things should we go up.

“We will incur more costs but that’s a fact of life. We incurred more costs when we got promoted from London 1 South to National 3 London & South East in the old days and we will just have to get on with it.”

One piece of good news on the financial front is that Canterbury, if promoted, would not have to spend any money on ground improvements, with Mr Hilton adding: “We wouldn’t need any ground improvements at all because we’ve probably already got a better ground than some of the clubs in National 1.”

Canterbury, whose game at Dings Crusaders was postponed last weekend because of a waterlogged pitch, are away again this Saturday when they take on Bournemouth, who they beat 36-6 at Merton Lane in October.