14 team Pro 12 from 2017/2018??

Burkie1203

On then TV deal, BT sponsorship of the wlesh and scottish teams seems to have ended

Edit - they still sponsor Edinburgh

CIARAN_BOYLE

irishbucsfan wrote: »

The global season restructuring that was announced is only for international rugby. The leagues haven't announced anything.

Leagues have to follow suit. Players can't take their half summer holidays before the summer internationals and half after.

irishbucsfan

CIARAN_BOYLE wrote: »

Leagues have to follow suit. Players can't take their half summer holidays before the summer internationals and half after.

Well they don't have to do anything. I would think its likely they will follow suit but I don't think anyone should be assuming that the leagues will do anything just because the Unions have decided they should.

Although its promising that the leagues were present for some of the discussions, so I'd hope that they were part of the agreement rather than there being problems remaining.

molloyjh

icdg wrote: »

Outside of France they haven't really shown interest in rugby. Yet.

Elsewhere, Irish Times reporting today that touring parties to SA won't be allowed add new players to teams between the two matches, which is seemingly impacting the plans as to how Ireland players will be introduced into the Leinster squad.

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/pro14/leinster-shorn-of-their-top-talent-for-trip-to-south-africa-1.3196139?mode=amp

It's only the Lions players they're talking about there. We'll still have the likes of Toner, Jordi, Rhys, Leavy, Conan, Carbery and both Kearneys.

errlloyd

molloyjh wrote: »

It's only the Lions players they're talking about there. We'll still have the likes of Toner, Jordi, Rhys, Leavy, Conan, Carbery and both Kearneys.

Van Der Flier or is he out for some reason?

errlloyd

South Africa v Australia will be in the Free State Stadium on the 30th of September. Cheetahs v Ospreys is being lined up as a double header as it is being played on the same day. That's a real treat for any Ospreys fans making the trip. 3 games in 10 days!

Larbre34

errlloyd wrote: »

That's a real treat for any Ospreys fans making the trip. 3 games in 10 days!

That'll be one man happy anyway!

pickarooney

icdg wrote: »

Outside of France they haven't really shown interest in rugby. Yet.

Elsewhere, Irish Times reporting today that touring parties to SA won't be allowed add new players to teams between the two matches, which is seemingly impacting the plans as to how Ireland players will be introduced into the Leinster squad.

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/pro14/leinster-shorn-of-their-top-talent-for-trip-to-south-africa-1.3196139?mode=amp

Not allowed by whom?

thomond2006

pickarooney wrote: »

Not allowed by whom?

The Pro14 are paying for the travel to SA so I imagine they want to keep costs down?

Podge_irl

I would imagine no one would stop Leinster flying them down on their own dime - though I don't envisage that happening.

icdg

pickarooney wrote: »

Not allowed by whom?

"New Pro14 rules" says the first line of the article; so I take that to mean Celtic Rugby.

awec

It would be pretty daft to have extra rules about the playing squad for specific fixtures.

What are teams supposed to do if two players in the same position get injured?

molloyjh

errlloyd wrote: »

molloyjh wrote: »

It's only the Lions players they're talking about there. We'll still have the likes of Toner, Jordi, Rhys, Leavy, Conan, Carbery and both Kearneys.

Van Der Flier or is he out for some reason?

Him too...

ArmaniJeanss

Podge_irl wrote: »

I would imagine no one would stop Leinster flying them down on their own dime - though I don't envisage that happening.

awec wrote: »

It would be pretty daft to have extra rules about the playing squad for specific fixtures.

What are teams supposed to do if two players in the same position get injured?

Problem is if Leinster send down say 33 players and pay for the extra 5 on their own dollar then it kinda forces the hand of everyone else to do the same otherwise they are at a disadvantage over the two fixtures vis a vis Leinster.
So it makes sense (mutual benefit if you will) for everyone to agree reasonable limits for the SA trip and stick to them. I'm guessing there'd have to be a meaningful financial penalty to force teams to stick by such an agreement.

An exception for verified injuries in key positions would seem reasonable though.

The Rape of Lucretia

ArmaniJeanss wrote: »

An exception for verified injuries in key positions would seem reasonable though.

What are the key positions, and the non key positions, of a rugby team ?

Zzippy

The Rape of Lucretia wrote: »

What are the key positions, and the non key positions, of a rugby team ?

9-15 obvs. Any old fattie can play in the forwards...

The Rape of Lucretia

The Rape of Lucretia wrote: »

What are the key positions, and the non key positions, of a rugby team ?

Everyone has a fairly important role to play but I would say 3, 4 or 5, 9, 10, 13 probably the key key key positions. A rugby team cannot function without a semi-competent scrum-half. He touches the ball far more than anyone else on the team, so what he does with it is obviously quite important.

irishbucsfan

icdg wrote: »

"New Pro14 rules" says the first line of the article; so I take that to mean Celtic Rugby.

I take it to mean that their travel is being covered and that cover does not extend to guys who are being flown out mid-tour. If teams were then allowed to fly guys back and forth it would favour the wealthy guys I guess.

salmocab

In fairness teams arent likely to want to change too many players between the 2 games anyway as logistically its better to have the players on the ground for the second game for a week and a bit however if someone has an injury to say a hooker then there is no way the league are going to stop another coming out.

thomond2006

Will this be the general discussion thread for the season?

errlloyd

If so can we change the name, just like. The combination of numeric digits, the / and the double question make makes my eyes bleed.

johnnyryan89

Would it be better to start a new thread for the season instead of having it thrown in with 123 pages of discussion about the change from pro12 to pro14.

pickarooney

Yeah, this one has served its purpose.

LeinsterDub

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/aug/30/the-breakdown-pro-14-expansion-germany-spain-canada

Interesting article. Canada, America, Spain and Germany also still under consideration. Also Proteas 14 made me laugh.

golfer555

LeinsterDub wrote: »

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/aug/30/the-breakdown-pro-14-expansion-germany-spain-canada

Interesting article. Canada, America, Spain and Germany also still under consideration. Also Proteas 14 made me laugh.

This made me laugh...

'I met with Treviso’s owner recently and he wants to make it a rugby powerhouse'

golfer555

golfer555 wrote: »

This made me laugh...

'I met with Treviso’s owner recently and he wants to make it a rugby powerhouse'

There was a brief time when Treviso looked like they were heading in the right direction tbf. Think they got up to 7th in the league one year, managed to win a HEC game or two as well. Squad just got pillaged after that.

Armani Shy Bun

Armani Shy Bun wrote: »

There was a brief time when Treviso looked like they were heading in the right direction tbf. Think they got up to 7th in the league one year, managed to win a HEC game or two as well. Squad just got pillaged after that.

I wonder how much of this is to blame for Italian rugby not progressing. Everytime they start picking up results from having a crop of decent players come through they end up losing a lot of those quality lads overseas.

Neil3030

[Deleted User] wrote: »

I wonder how much of this is to blame for Italian rugby not progressing. Everytime they start picking up results from having a crop of decent players come through they end up losing a lot of those quality lads overseas.

Where is all the Italian 6N money going? Or is there just not that much of it?

connemara man

https://twitter.com/GlasgowWarriors/status/903183507014504448

sydthebeat

Armani Shy Bun wrote: »

There was a brief time when Treviso looked like they were heading in the right direction tbf. Think they got up to 7th in the league one year, managed to win a HEC game or two as well. Squad just got pillaged after that.

in that season it took a last minute sexy drop goal to beat them over there.

sydthebeat

Guinness PRO14 Elite Referee Squad – 2017/18

Mike Adamson (SRU)
Competition debut:
Munster v Benetton Rugby, Nov 2016
Appearances: 8

Stuart Berry (SARU)
Super Rugby debut:
Toyota Cheetahs v Western Force, May 2012
Super Rugby Appearances: 26

Andrew Brace (IRFU)
Competition debut:
Cardiff Blues v Zebre, Sep 2015
Appearances: 23

George Clancy (IRFU)
Competition debut:
Border Reivers v Dragons, Oct 2004.
Appearances: 89

Ian Davies (WRU)
Competition debut:
Connacht v Aironi, April 2012.
Appearances: 64

Quinton Immelman (SARU)
Super Rugby debut:
Toyota Cheetahs v Sunwolves, March 2016
Super Rugby Appearances: 8

Dan Jones (WRU)
Competition debut:
Munster v Zebre, Oct 2016.
Appearances: 8

John Lacey (IRFU)
Competition debut:
Edinburgh v Ospreys, Nov 2008.
Appearances: 63

Marius Mitrea (FIR)
Competition debut:
Connacht v Scarlets, Sep 2011.
Appearances: 68

Frank Murphy (IRFU)
Competition debut:
Dragons v Edinburgh, Nov 2016.
Appearances: 5

Nigel Owens (WRU)
Competition debut:
Border Reivers v Connacht, Aug 2002.
Appearances: 152

Ben Whitehouse (WRU)
Competition debut:
Connacht v Zebre, Nov 2014.
Appearances: 33

David Wilkinson (IRFU)
Competition debut:
Glasgow Warriors v Scarlets, April 2008.
Appearances: 51


Read more at http://www.pro14rugby.org/2017/08/30/guinness-pro14-elite-referee-squad-named-for-the-201718-season/#paKRlDC6mGci8drC.99

sydthebeat

Round 1 Appointments

Cardiff Blues v Edinburgh
George Clancy (IRFU)

Munster v Benetton Rugby
Ian Davies (WRU)

Ulster v Toyota Cheetahs
Andrew Brace (IRFU)

Ospreys v Zebre Rugby Club
Quinton Immelman (SARU)

Dragons v Leinster
Mike Adamson (SRU)

Scarlets v Southern Kings
Frank Murphy (IRFU)

Connacht v Glasgow Warriors
Ben Whitehouse (WRU)


Read more at http://www.pro14rugby.org/2017/08/30/guinness-pro14-elite-referee-squad-named-for-the-201718-season/#paKRlDC6mGci8drC.99

thomond2006

No Peyper. Excellent.

sydthebeat

thomond2006 wrote: »

No Peyper. Excellent.

Quinton Immelman is pretty green, having only reffed a few super rugby game sthis season, but hes decent enough

Berry has more experience, including international games... but can be flaky and a bit of a homer, having received official complaints in the past.

thomond2006

thomond2006 wrote: »

No Peyper. Excellent.

Peyper is never available September through to December as he takes his extended holidays in New Zealand:

ClanofLams

Supersport in SA announced today that they have secured Pro14 tv rights.

awec

season thread is here: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057780714

we'll keep this one as a historic reminder of the build up to the pro14.