Pro14 2017-18 season thread

Riskymove · 21-05-2018 11:43am

molloyjh wrote: »

If that is how it ends up then that's a joke. Connacht, Kings and Zebre are 3 of the 4 worst teams in the competition. And Ospreys aren't that far ahead of them as it stands.

I.m not actually positive about which italian and which SA team would go into which conference

I put Cheetahs in A as Glasgow awas already in A so Edinburgh needed to go into B. However, there could be some other approach to SA teams

I strated with Leinster and scarlets as first in each conference and then the losing sf and went from there, but there may be another way

seeds would be
Ireland
Leinster 1
Munster 2
Ulster 3
Connacht 4

Wales
Scarlets 1
Cardiff 2
Ospreys 3
Dragons 4

Scotland
Glasgow 1
Edinburgh 2

Italy
Treviso 1
Zebre 2

SA
Cheetahs 1
Kings 2

awec · 21-05-2018 11:43am

The italians and south africans are unpredictable.

Bridge93 · 21-05-2018 11:46am

So are the lower Welsh sides for next year. Ospreys losing a couple of big names who were injured or checked out and gaining some good players. Dragons a total mystery

awec · 21-05-2018 11:50am

Bridge93 wrote: »

So are the lower Welsh sides for next year. Ospreys losing a couple of big names who were injured or checked out and gaining some good players. Dragons a total mystery

Yes.

In any given year you can expect ~50% of the teams to be absolute dross. A few of the crap teams might pick up the odd decent result.

molloyjh · 21-05-2018 11:55am

bennyl10 wrote: »

Ulster dragons and Treviso are hardly world beaters either based on this year!

Ulster and Treviso have both been better than Kings, Zebre and Connacht. They've also arguably been better than Ospreys. Certainly Ulster have.

Like most leagues there are a few categories of teams. Those at the top capable of winning, those who will likely challenge for the knock outs and those that aren't going to have a sniff of the knock outs.

Based on this season, Leinster, Scarlets, Glasgow (despite recent form) and Munster are all in the top tier. Cheetahs, Cardiff, Ulster, Edinburgh and Treviso are in the second. Connacht, Kings, Zebre and Dragons are in the bottom tier.

If you look at any other league you'll see a similar story.

Eod100 · 21-05-2018 11:57am

Here's what they have from last summer's press release:

Every season the conferences will be filled in the following order:

Conference A Rank Conference B Rank
Ireland 1 Wales 1
Ireland 4 Wales 4
Wales 2 Ireland 2
Wales 3 Ireland 3
Scotland 1 Scotland 2
Italy 2 Italy 1
South Africa 1 SA 2

Each union will rank their teams based upon their points totals from the previous season’s Championship table.

Read more at https://www.pro14rugby.org/2017/08/01/guinness-pro14-championship-qa/#T35ABIZG6iuZkMjW.99

thomond2006 · 21-05-2018 12:00pm

The Championship finalists are top seeds. Leinster and Scarlets will be in seperate conferences.

Q: Does this mean that the Conferences will change from year to year?

A: Yes. The number of teams by union will remain constant in each conference, but in order to ensure a competitive balance the teams will then be distributed evenly based upon their union ranking from the season before.

Final placings are also determined by the order in which teams progress through the Guinness PRO14 Final Series. For example, in 2016/17 Scarlets finished 3rd in the table, but ended up as Championship winners so their ranking is 1st (see above).

awec · 21-05-2018 12:00pm

Eod100 wrote: »

Here's what they have from last summer's press release:

Every season the conferences will be filled in the following order:

Conference A Rank Conference B Rank
Ireland 1 Wales 1
Ireland 4 Wales 4
Wales 2 Ireland 2
Wales 3 Ireland 3
Scotland 1 Scotland 2
Italy 2 Italy 1
South Africa 1 SA 2

Each union will rank their teams based upon their points totals from the previous season’s Championship table.

Read more at https://www.pro14rugby.org/2017/08/01/guinness-pro14-championship-qa/#T35ABIZG6iuZkMjW.99

So it's:

Leinster
Connacht
Cardiff
Ospreys
Glasgow
Zebre
Cheetahs

Munster
Ulster
Scarlets
Dragons
Edinburgh
Treviso
Kings

Riskymove · 21-05-2018 12:03pm

ah ok

I used 1 and 3 and 2 and 4

but its actually 1 and 4 and 2 and 3

Riskymove · 21-05-2018 12:06pm

Interestingly Munster and Leinster have a completely different conference, not one same team!

wp_rathead · 21-05-2018 12:08pm

So Munster and Leinster swap, that's it?

Eod100 · 21-05-2018 12:10pm

wp_rathead wrote: »

So Munster and Leinster swap, that's it?

Looks that way!

molloyjh · 21-05-2018 12:31pm

Eod100 wrote: »

Looks that way!

Which actually makes sense really given that the Welsh, Scottish and Italian teams are pretty much set in stone from last season. Surely that format could just mean that, unless fortunes change for some teams, the conferences would see little to no changes year on year? Zebre are always going to be behind Treviso. Edinburgh will likely remain behind Glasgow. There may be some movement in the top 3 in Wales and the top 2 in Ireland, but that's about all for the foreseeable.

Eod100 · 21-05-2018 12:39pm

molloyjh wrote: »

Which actually makes sense really given that the Welsh, Scottish and Italian teams are pretty much set in stone from last season. Surely that format could just mean that, unless fortunes change for some teams, the conferences would see little to no changes year on year? Zebre are always going to be behind Treviso. Edinburgh will likely remain behind Glasgow. There may be some movement in the top 3 in Wales and the top 2 in Ireland, but that's about all for the foreseeable.

Yeah I'm not really sure had they envisaged massive changes or was it more about organizing a league which had 21 games, kept the derbies and ensured each team played each other. I did think there would be more change than that but maybe as seasons go on and teams fortunes improve (perhaps Dragons and Kings but think they are at least 2-3 season jobs) there will be more change?

Burkie1203 · 21-05-2018 1:03pm

bennyl10 wrote: »

Ulster dragons and Treviso are hardly world beaters either based on this year!

Cardiff might not be great either with new coach and losing a few players

Eod100 · 21-05-2018 6:31pm

Did I see something about a 7s festival in Dublin that ties in with the Pro14 final? Dunno is it anything official or just that it's on in Dublin on the same weekend. Anyone know/hear anything about it?

molloyjh · 21-05-2018 6:35pm

Eod100 wrote: »

Did I see something about a 7s festival in Dublin that ties in with the Pro14 final? Dunno is it anything official or just that it's on in Dublin on the same weekend. Anyone know/hear anything about it?

Yep, it’s on in Bective I believe. Not sure exactly what the deal is with it, but if the weather is nice and you don’t have any other obligations (ugh) it’s alnost certainly be worth the trip in.

The Lost Sheep · 21-05-2018 7:27pm

Eod100 wrote: »

Did I see something about a 7s festival in Dublin that ties in with the Pro14 final? Dunno is it anything official or just that it's on in Dublin on the same weekend. Anyone know/hear anything about it?

is some tie ins with it i believe but not sure about it this year

molloyjh wrote: »

Yep, it’s on in Bective I believe. Not sure exactly what the deal is with it, but if the weather is nice and you don’t have any other obligations (ugh) it’s alnost certainly be worth the trip in.

Its been on for the past few years.
Is on solely in Belvedere now. First year, 2016, the 7s was in Donnybrook(Bective really) while tag was in Belvedere before music on in Donnybrook but crowds were not great so whole event moved to Belvedere down the road last year.

razorblunt · 22-05-2018 1:09pm

John Barclay out for 6 months following the injury he picked up on Friday night.
Might mean Edinburgh look to re-sign John Hardie for another season.

Harsh luck for Edinburgh though, last season it was Bennett who was crocked after signing before even turning up at the club.

Jump_In_Jack · 22-05-2018 3:03pm

Riskymove wrote: »

I think that means the conferences will be:

A Leinster, Glasgow, Cheetahs, Blues, Ulster, Dragons, Treviso

B Scarlets, Munster, Edinburgh, Ospreys, Connacht, Kings, Zebre

I think the only change that will be different to last season will be one swap, Munster will swap with Leinster.

The Union rankings are as follows:

Ireland: Leinster, Munster, Ulster, Connacht
Wales: Scarlets, Cardiff, Ospreys, Dragons
Scotland: Glasgow, Edinburgh
South Africa: Cheetahs, Kings
Italy: Benetton, Zebre

Conference A: [Ireland 1] Leinster, [Wales 2] Blues, [Wales 3] Ospreys, [Ireland 4] Connacht, [Scotland 1] Glasgow, [South Africa 1] Cheetahs, [Italy 2] Zebre.

Conference B: [Wales 1] Scarlets, [Ireland 2] Munster, [Ireland 3] Ulster, [Wales 4] Dragons, [Scotland 2] Edinburgh, [South Africa 2] Kings, [Italy 1] Benetton.

Final order based on league points,
1 and 2 Leinster (70)/Scarlets (70) (decided by final)
3 Glasgow (76)
4 Munster (69)
5 Edinburgh (68)
6 Cheetahs (63)
7 Ulster (62)
8 Benetton (55)
9 Blues (54)
10 Ospreys (44)
11 Connacht (39)
12 Zebre (36)
13 Dragons (20)
14 Kings (11)

Next years conferences by order of merit:
Conference A:
Leinster (1 or 2), Glasgow (3), Cheetahs (6), Blues(9), Ospreys(10), Connacht (11), Zebre (12).

Conference B:
Scarlets(1 or 2), Munster (4), Edinburgh (5), Ulster (7), Benetton (8), Dragons (13), Kings (14).

For what it's worth, I would favour a slight rejigging to even them up as follows (swap the Italian teams and the Welsh 3 and 4):
Conference A:
Leinster (1 or 2), Glasgow (3), Cheetahs (6), Benetton (8), Blues (9), Connacht (11), Dragons (13).

Conference B:
Scarlets (1 or 2), Munster (4), Edinburgh (5), Ulster (7), Ospreys (10), Zebre (12), Kings (14).

Burkie1203 · 29-05-2018 12:07pm

So the Welsh use more players this season in pro14

https://twitter.com/phog6189/status/1001416591471448065?s=19

errlloyd · 29-05-2018 12:11pm

What the hell are the Dragons doing? They're hardly losing anyone to internationals and don't exactly have to rest players for European games or knockouts?

thomond2006 · 29-05-2018 12:14pm

errlloyd wrote: »

What the hell are the Dragons doing? They're hardly losing anyone to internationals and don't exactly have to rest players for European games or knockouts?

They had a crazy injury list.

The Lost Sheep · 29-05-2018 12:16pm

errlloyd wrote: »

What the hell are the Dragons doing? They're hardly losing anyone to internationals and don't exactly have to rest players for European games or knockouts?

Had nearly 30 out injured at one point in the season.

29-05-2018 12:39pm

The Lost Sheep wrote: »

Had nearly 30 out injured at one point in the season.

16 were injured eating desert.

Buer · 29-05-2018 2:00pm

Deleted User wrote: »

16 were injured eating dessert.

They all took a bite of Jackman's sticky toffee pudding and he beat them unconscious with the leg of his chair.

Herpes Free Since03 · 29-05-2018 3:36pm

[Deleted User] wrote: »

16 were injured eating desert.

You were right first time

29-05-2018 3:38pm

Herpes Free Since03 wrote: »

You were right first time

I think Buer is having fun - I didn't edit that post, he made them eat sand.

Burkie1203 · 05-06-2018 9:13pm

Shingler out until 2019. Beirne and Barclay gone
If Steff Evans has a similar injury that's a massive blow to Scarlets

Burkie1203 · 06-06-2018 11:49am

When does a pre season normally start

https://twitter.com/dragonsrugby/status/1004298030558957568?s=19

Pro14 2017-18 season thread

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