Danny Wilson has welcomed the RFU’s decision to rank the Championship play-off contenders early after London Welsh were deemed third seeds for the end-of-season promotion showdown.

Due to the adverse weather conditions the RFU elected to nominate sides on their current positions to enable clubs to formulate plans and ticket sales in advance.

Welsh will tangle with Exeter, Nottingham and a third side still to be decided and despite rendering the final league game at Cornish Pirates academic, Wilson was delighted with the development.

He said: “To know who you are going to be facing well in advance is a real bonus.

“To have us confirmed as third seeds also highlights the outstanding achievement we have made this season.

“But we still know things are going to be far from easy.

“A quick look at the group tells you that it is very tough, and very physical.

“We have beaten both Exeter and Nottingham at home this season, and lost to both of them away, so there will be plenty to play for.”

First up though is a British and Irish Cup game against Llanelli at Old Deer Park where the Dragons will look to bounce back from Friday night’s 21-17 loss at Ulster.

Neil Starling grabbed the Welsh try at Ravenhill as the Exiles came close to causing an upset only to fall short.

Wilson added: “We were 16-0 down early on so the final result tells you everything about the rest of the game.

“We could have nicked it but we did not capitalise on our performance.

“It rained from start to finish and we did not deal with that and made far too many errors.

“I will probably change things a little bit this weekend and put out more of a ‘Welsh’ team.

“The Llanelli game will mean more to them and it is a chance for a few more players to put their hands up ahead of the play-offs.”

Play-off dates: March 19-21: London Welsh v Doncaster/Plymouth/Moseley March 26-28: Exeter v London Welsh April 2-4: London Welsh v Nottingham April 9-11: Nottingham v London Welsh April 16-18: London Welsh v Exeter May 1: Doncaster/Plymouth/Moseley v London Welsh Top two teams advance to play-off semi-finals