Guinness Pro12 2015/2016 Season thread

Winters

Judgement day works well because all the Pro12 clubs in Wales are all within 30mins to an hours drive at most from Cardiff. Galway, Belfast and Cork/Limerick are much further distances away. I would hate to have to travel to Dublin for a big provincial home game and im sure local businesses would hate to lose that trade too.

All the grounds except the Sportsground have undergone large developments recently so I cant see any of the provinces wanting to lose those marquee fixtures without compensation and given Irish attendances are far better than Welsh attendances I cant imagine sharing a 50,000 gate in Lansdowne would be enough compensation.

Having a one day A team inter provincial tournament might work, lots of forward planning, cheap tickets, two games back to back, some internationals coming back from injury/getting game time etc. It could draw all provincial fans in Dublin to come together..?

b.gud

Winters wrote: »

Judgement day works well because all the Pro12 clubs in Wales are all within 30mins to an hours drive at most from Cardiff. Galway, Belfast and Cork/Limerick are much further distances away. I would hate to have to travel to Dublin for a big provincial home game and im sure local businesses would hate to lose that trade too.

All the grounds except the Sportsground have undergone large developments recently so I cant see any of the provinces wanting to lose those marquee fixtures without compensation and given Irish attendances are far better than Welsh attendances I cant imagine sharing a 50,000 gate in Lansdowne would be enough compensation.

Having a one day A team inter provincial tournament might work, lots of forward planning, cheap tickets, two games back to back, some internationals coming back from injury/getting game time etc. It could draw all provincial fans in Dublin to come together..?

Unless I'm missing something then the split would be between Leinster and another province, the one who is sacrificing home advantage. So that means 25000 ticket sales to each province which is 2 and a half times what Connacht could get at max. About 7000 more than Ulster can get into Ravenhill. And though it's less than the Thomond capacity when was the last time they had a sell out for a non Leinster or European game

Winters

The geography of the cities in Wales is gas compared to Ireland actually.

It would be like having Dundalk, Drogheda, Dublin and Bray as our four major cities.

Imagine the away games...

Winters

b.gud wrote: »

Unless I'm missing something then the split would be between Leinster and another province, the one who is sacrificing home advantage. So that means 25000 ticket sales to each province which is 2 and a half times what Connacht could get at max. About 7000 more than Ulster can get into Ravenhill. And though it's less than the Thomond capacity when was the last time they had a sell out for a non Leinster or European game

The split would be four ways if it was two matches on one day like Judgement day. Thats 13,000 each but wouldnt take into account any losses to local trade like bars and hotels.

irishbucsfan

Winters wrote: »

The split would be four ways if it was two matches on one day like Judgement day. Thats 13,000 each but wouldnt take into account any losses to local trade like bars and hotels.

I don't understand why the split would be 4-way? There's still only two home teams, the split doesn't go two-way for the Leinster/Ulster game this weekend.

Winters

Isnt that how the Judgement Day format works? Do the teams rotate home advantage?

I think the WRU give it to them for free on the day.

Podge_irl

former total wrote: »

They wouldn't do it for Leinster v Munster, but home games against the other provinces don't draw the same sort of interest.

As things stand they only get two games away from the RDS though so that would need to be changed and I don't see that happening.

molloyjh

The try of the season thing is a bit odd. The Kearney try was good and all but it was far from the best Leinster try of the season. Marshs against Cardiff was probably the pick of the bunch for us. 1:24 in this clip.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tou1wWbipFY

b.gud

Winters wrote: »

The split would be four ways if it was two matches on one day like Judgement day. Thats 13,000 each but wouldnt take into account any losses to local trade like bars and hotels.

irishbucsfan wrote: »

I don't understand why the split would be 4-way? There's still only two home teams, the split doesn't go two-way for the Leinster/Ulster game this weekend.

Yep this is the point I was, clumsily, trying to make

b.gud

molloyjh wrote: »

The try of the season thing is a bit odd. The Kearney try was good and all but it was far from the best Leinster try of the season. Marshs against Cardiff was probably the pick of the bunch for us. 1:24 in this clip.

I think it's based on the tries that won try of the month, so that Marsh try lost out to the Gilroy try against Treviso.

Though interestingly that try was never in the running for OCtober try of the month

Winters

b.gud wrote: »

Yep this is the point I was, clumsily, trying to make

I thought I remember reading that there was a revenue sharing agreement between the four teams for Judgement day.

Even still, I dont think the same format is a runner for the Interpros.

molloyjh

b.gud wrote: »

I think it's based on the tries that won try of the month, so that Marsh try lost out to the Gilroy try against Treviso.

Though interestingly that try was never in the running for OCtober try of the month

That Poolman try was actually a lovely bit of work. Having watched Leinster rely heavily on the inside ball for line breaks over the last few seasons its interesting seeing Connacht using a clever variation of it to create the space out wide.

thomond2006

Zebre are doing well tonight.

Adbrowne

thomond2006 wrote: »

Zebre are doing well tonight.

not being Nilled is an improvement.

thomond2006

6 points for Leinster will guarantee a home SF. However 5 points should be enough, I don't see Connacht matching that. In a tie Leinster finish ahead of Connacht due to having one more win.

molloyjh

It's some finish to the league this season. So much is up for grabs going into the last week. 3 teams battling it out for home semi finals. Another 3 for the remaining semi final place. Another 3 are in with a shot of qualifying for Europe. And the Italian place in the Champions Cup is still up for grabs. Only Dragons have nothing to play for.

CatFromHue

Ospreys got the tbp win against Cardiff earlier so Cardiff are out but Ospreys are now in 7th 4 points behind Munster and with a 30 points better points difference. Next week Ospreys host Ulster

barry rainey

ulster looked very good today

Podge_irl

CatFromHue wrote: »

Ospreys got the tbp win against Cardiff earlier so Cardiff are out but Ospreys are now in 7th 4 points behind Munster and with a 30 points better points difference. Next week Ospreys host Ulster

Scarlets win today and a lot comes down to the Scarlets-Munster and Ospreys-Ulster games. In theory Ulster could miss out on semis and Munster on Europe yet.

Akrasia

Someone should do up a table with all the possible permutations for next weeks matches
(Bags not me!!)

thomond2006

Only Edinburgh, Cardiff and Dragons will have nothing to play for next Saturday.

thomond2006

7-0 Scarlets

thomond2006

14-0 now, off a break from Scott Williams.

thomond2006

Glasgow 71
Connacht 69
Leinster 68
Ulster 64
Scarlets 63
Munster 58
Ospreys 54
Edinburgh 53
Cardiff 52
Dragons 26
Treviso 20
Zebre 19

Munster vs Scarlets
Leinster vs Treviso
Connacht vs Glasgow
Ospreys vs Ulster
Zebre vs Dragons
Edinburgh vs Cardiff

former total

So basically:

Scarlets have qualified for Champions Cup and if they better Ulster's result next week, they get 4th.

Ospreys need a win at home to Ulster and hope Munster lose at home to Scarlets.

Munster cannot finish higher than sixth.

Adbrowne

former total wrote: »

So basically:

Scarlets have qualified for Champions Cup and if they better Ulster's result next week, they get 4th.

Ospreys need a BP win at home to Ulster and hope Munster get nothing at home to Scarlets.

Munster cannot finish higher than sixth.

Munster need 1 point to get ERCC?

former total

Adbrowne wrote: »

Munster need 1 point to get ERCC?

No, sorry. A BP win for Ospreys would mean Munster would need two match points minimum.

Felix Jones is God

Realistically, yes, Munster need 1 point for European cup rugby

Brewster

Adbrowne wrote: »

Munster need 1 point to get ERCC?

Ospreys are only 4 behind with a better points difference. If Ospreys get 5 points, I don't believe a point is enough. Am I correct? They would both have 12, same number of match wins buts Ospreys points difference is better. A bonus point is not enough for Munster. They need 2 points from game to be absolutely safe.

wp_rathead

So how did the Interpro Table finish after Ulsters win?
Open to correction, this just by memory :
Leinster on 4 wins 1Lbp (17)
Ulster 3 wins 1 TBP 3 Lbp (16)
Connacht 3 wins 1 TBP 1 Lbp (14)
Munster 2 wins 2 Lbp 1 TBP (11)