We take a look at the structure of the expanded Pro 12 – to now be known as the Pro 14 – as well as the first two rounds of fixtures.
The Pro 14 gets underway this coming September and there’s a lot of questions surrounding the tournament. As South African rugby fans will know, both the Cheetahs and Kings will now be plying their trade in the tournament. The inclusion of these two sides has seen a massive overhaul in the tournament’s structure. We’ll take a look at the changes below:
Pro 14 Structure
The Pro 14 gets underway on the 1st of September and will see 14 sides side’s slug it out for title honours. The 14 sides will play 21 games each with the tournament split into two conferences. Each conference is divided equally amongst unions with two Welsh sides, two Irish sides, one Scottish side, one South African side, and one Italian side featuring in each.
Each side will play each other at least once with the teams in the same conference locking horns in both home and away fixtures.
A lot of thought – take note SANZAAR – has gone into this format and rugby fans in both the North and South will be relieved to hear that the local derby fixtures will be kept in place with local competitors set to lock horns three times in a season. It’s a bit different for the Irish and Welsh sides due to them having an extra team in the tournament. Sides from these nations will play their local conference rivals home and away but will only play their local rivals in the other conference, once.
The 21 game split means that not all sides will play the same amount of games at home with certain teams playing 11 games at home and 10 games away this season. This will switch around next year with the sides who played the extra away fixture during the 2017/18 campaign enjoying an extra home fixture the following season.
While the Pro 12 featured semi-finals in the past, the Pro 14 will have an extra playoff game much like the 2013 and 2014 editions of Super Rugby. The first placed teams in each conference will earn a home semi-final while the second and third placed teams in each conference will square off against their conference opponents for a semi-final berth.
The top three sides from each conference will qualify for the European Rugby Champions Cup, although, both the Cheetahs and Kings are ineligible to participate in this tournament. The final European Rugby Champions Cup qualification slot will be awarded to whichever fourth placed side from the two conferences has the most points at the close of the regular season.
Pro 14 Teams
Conference A
Ospreys
|
Wales
|
Cardiff
|
Wales
|
Munster
|
Ireland
|
Connacht
|
Ireland
|
Glasgow
|
Scotland
|
Zebre
|
Italy
|
Cheetahs
|
South Africa
|
Conference B
Scarlets
|
Wales
|
Dragons
|
Wales
|
Leinster
|
Ireland
|
Ulster
|
Ireland
|
Edinburgh
|
Scotland
|
Treviso
|
Italy
|
Kings
|
South Africa
|
Early Season Fixtures
Round 1
Friday 1 September
20:35
|
Munster
|
vs
|
Treviso
|
20:35
|
Blues
|
vs
|
Edinburgh
|
20:35
|
Ulster
|
vs
|
Cheetahs
|
Saturday 2 September
15:30
|
Ospreys
|
vs
|
Zebre
|
16:15
|
Dragons
|
vs
|
Leinster
|
18:30
|
Scarlets
|
vs
|
Kings
|
20:35
|
Connacht
|
vs
|
Glasgow
|
Round 2
Friday 8 September
20:35
|
Leinster
|
vs
|
Cardiff
|
20:35
|
Edinburgh
|
vs
|
Dragons
|
Saturday 9 September
16:15
|
Glasgow
|
vs
|
Ospreys
|
18:15
|
Munster
|
vs
|
Cheetahs
|
20:35
|
Connacht
|
vs
|
Kings
|
20:35
|
Zebre
|
vs
|
Scarlets
|
Written by Darry Worthington for @Hollywoodbets.net