nav[aria-label="Primary Navigation"] { padding: 0; & ul { list-style: none; width: 100%; display: flex; flex-direction: row; justify-content: start; align-items: start; gap: 30px; padding: 0; & li { margin: 0; } & ul li { list-style: none; } } }

Child Item

Pro 16 Discussion

Red Silurian

How do you see it playing out and how would you like to see it play out?

What we know
16 Teams
4 Irish
4 Welsh
2 Scottish
2 Italian
4 South African

Obviously the most fair situation would be 1 table of 16 teams and each team playing 15 Home and Away games but I don't think that's logical

The best option I think is an East/West or North/South conferences
That is to say

North Conference
Ulster and Connacht (The 2 northern most Irish provinces)
Edinburgh (slightly more north than Glasgow)
Scarlets + Ospreys (The 2 northern most Welsh teams)
Benetton (more north than Zebre)
Lions and Bulls (The 2 northern most South African teams)

South conference
All the rest

Dividing it equally among the countries so 8 teams per conference, home+away in each conference home or away for the rest + 2 further inter-country games

That's 24 games, 25 if you have a final

Find more posts tagged with

Quick Links

Comments

OldRio

sydthebeat wrote: »

The answer is to let the Welsh float away and do their chosen thing with England.

That's leaves a decent 12 team league where it alls home and away and playoffs

This fantasy that some Welsh fans dream about, has one large flaw. The English don't need or want them.

sydthebeat

OldRio wrote: »

This fantasy that some Welsh fans dream about, has one large flaw. The English don't need or want them.

Agreed
And do we care??

Red Silurian

Details for Munster season tickets is out today

They are selling tickets on the basis of 9 home Pro16 games, which would suggest 18 (or 19) games in total for the new Pro16 format... That would make the Home or Away + Interprovincials the most likely option I think

Side note: they also believe the Champions cup will have 2 home and 2 away pool games

PMC83

Any official update on announcing the broadcast of the pro16 in Ireland?

Red Silurian

PMC83 wrote: »

Any official update on announcing the broadcast of the pro16 in Ireland?

Nothing official but the rumours are that TG4 are retaining their current allocation of Connacht home games and Irish teams Vs Welsh teams with RTE covering the remainder and possibly both covering the final

Irish Times seem to suggest RTE are frontrunners also

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/pro14/rt%C3%A9-strong-contenders-to-take-over-as-primary-broadcaster-of-pro-14-rugby-1.4519173

icdg

The latest suggestion is that Premier Sports will pick the rights to a much smaller amount of games than they have in the U.K. at present, but that it will be both U.K. and Ireland, and that the remainder of the games will be free to air across the various PSBs. Similar to the 2014-18 situation but substituting Premier in for Sky.

PMC83

icdg wrote: »

The latest suggestion is that Premier Sports will pick the rights to a much smaller amount of games than they have in the U.K. at present, but that it will be both U.K. and Ireland, and that the remainder of the games will be free to air across the various PSBs. Similar to the 2014-18 situation but substituting Premier in for Sky.

Hmm sounds a bit messy. Premier Sports do not have good feedback, wouldn't like to see them picking up the games for my province

icdg

I think it would be more the case that Premier would have a “game of the week” broadcast nationally across the U.K. and Ireland with other games being broadcast by the participating teams relevant PSBs. It’s just media reports which may or may not be correct (YMMV when it comes to the most recent source of these reports). I just wish they’d announce it at this stage.

Red Silurian

icdg wrote: »

I think it would be more the case that Premier would have a “game of the week” broadcast nationally across the U.K. and Ireland with other games being broadcast by the participating teams relevant PSBs. It’s just media reports which may or may not be correct (YMMV when it comes to the most recent source of these reports). I just wish they’d announce it at this stage.

So we would pay sky €17/34 a month for the odd rugby game, I'd sooner listen to it on the radio

awec

Red Silurian wrote: »

So we would pay sky €17/34 a month for the odd rugby game, I'd sooner listen to it on the radio

You'd get the european games included in that price.

icdg

awec wrote: »

You'd get the european games included in that price.

And Premiership Rugby. And the Top 14. And the PRL Cup, if that’s your thing (not mine, but someone surely watches it). And PRL Sevens (again not my thing).

They’ve had autumn internationals in the past too, not sure what is happening with the centralisation of the rights though. It’s seven channels worth of sport between BT Sport, Premier Sports, and LaLiga TV.

Anyway, it’s just media reports for now. Simon Thomas on WalesOnline seems pretty sure this will be the shape of the deal, but who outside of Celtic Rugby Towers and the broadcasters involved really know.

thomond2006

I feel terrible for the Cheetahs. They are reduced to playing "Invitational teams".

https://twitter.com/CheetahsRugby/status/1398262807498563588?s=19

The Kings were a joke and turned out to be cowboys off the field but the Cheetahs were worth their place in the league.

Thrashssacre

thomond2006 wrote: »

I feel terrible for the Cheetahs. They are reduced to playing "Invitational teams".

https://twitter.com/CheetahsRugby/status/1398262807498563588?s=19

The Kings were a joke and turned out to be cowboys off the field but the Cheetahs were worth their place in the league.

They were seriously done dirty played some fantastic rugby at times and still have a competitive squad, wonder what came of the legal battle they said they were taking on the south African Union.

Buer

Marcel Coetzee has seen a miraculous recovery and will start for the Bulls tomorrow against the Stormers.

I don't think himself and Ulster will stay as friends after this break up.

In other news, 11 of the Bulls starting team are 25 or younger. They've the potential to dominate for the next 5 years particularly with new found investment.

awec

Buer wrote: »

Marcel Coetzee has seen a miraculous recovery and will start for the Bulls tomorrow against the Stormers.

I don't think himself and Ulster will stay as friends after this break up.

In other news, 11 of the Bulls starting team are 25 or younger. They've the potential to dominate for the next 5 years particularly with new found investment.

He's yesterday's news.

bilston

Buer wrote: »

Marcel Coetzee has seen a miraculous recovery and will start for the Bulls tomorrow against the Stormers.

I don't think himself and Ulster will stay as friends after this break up.

In other news, 11 of the Bulls starting team are 25 or younger. They've the potential to dominate for the next 5 years particularly with new found investment.

He was expected to be for the last couple of Rainbow Cup matches before he left Ulster, so the timeline isn't a surprise.

Red Silurian

awec wrote: »

You'd get the european games included in that price.

Rumours are that Europe next year will be the same format as this years one, so 4 games

icdg wrote: »

And Premiership Rugby. And the Top 14. And the PRL Cup, if that’s your thing (not mine, but someone surely watches it). And PRL Sevens (again not my thing).

They’ve had autumn internationals in the past too, not sure what is happening with the centralisation of the rights though. It’s seven channels worth of sport between BT Sport, Premier Sports, and LaLiga TV.

Anyway, it’s just media reports for now. Simon Thomas on WalesOnline seems pretty sure this will be the shape of the deal, but who outside of Celtic Rugby Towers and the broadcasters involved really know.

I don't think a lot of people will have interest in those competitions and fairly sure LaLigaTV is all soccer (not familiar with it) so realistically only 6 channels

Eod100

Red Silurian wrote: »

Rumours are that Europe next year will be the same format as this years one, so 4 games

Think that has been confirmed by EPCR

awec

Red Silurian wrote: »

Rumours are that Europe next year will be the same format as this years one, so 4 games

I don't think a lot of people will have interest in those competitions and fairly sure LaLigaTV is all soccer (not familiar with it) so realistically only 6 channels

I think it's confirmed to be 4 games. The days of 6 pool games in Europe are finished, the English and French want less euro games.

Obviously some people will be worse off since they used to get the league for free. If you wanted to watch European games you needed a BT sub. If you had a BT sub for Europe, you now get the Pro14 for free on top.

Red Silurian

Eod100 wrote: »

Think that has been confirmed by EPCR

Got any link to backup the claim?

awec wrote: »

I think it's confirmed to be 4 games. The days of 6 pool games in Europe are finished, the English and French want less euro games.

Obviously some people will be worse off since they used to get the league for free. If you wanted to watch European games you needed a BT sub. If you had a BT sub for Europe, you now get the Pro14 for free on top.

My point about the 4 games is that you can pick up a nowtv pass for a month or 2 to watch the European games, but if it's going to be every week you'd need to subscribe foe the season

OldRio

Red Silurian wrote: »

Got any link to backup the claim?

My point about the 4 games is that you can pick up a nowtv pass for a month or 2 to watch the European games, but if it's going to be every week you'd need to subscribe foe the season

Indeed and that would be very expensive.

thomond2006

OldRio wrote: »

Indeed and that would be very expensive.

They do deals all the time, you can just cancel and renew as needed. There's never a need to pay the full price.

Bazzo

When are we going to get an announcement on TV rights for the league? Surely it's normally announced a good while at this stage.

awec

Bazzo wrote: »

When are we going to get an announcement on TV rights for the league? Surely it's normally announced a good while at this stage.

I reckon they're still trying to sell them.

Eod100

Red Silurian wrote: »

Got any link to backup the claim?/quote]

https://www.epcrugby.com/2021/04/30/twickenham-stadium-to-host-2021-epcr-finals/

Cookiemunster

Eod100 wrote: »

https://www.epcrugby.com/2021/04/30/twickenham-stadium-to-host-2021-epcr-finals/

That link confirms nothing more than a 24 team tournament. It actually says that the format and dates have yet to be confirmed.

icdg

Bazzo wrote: »

When are we going to get an announcement on TV rights for the league? Surely it's normally announced a good while at this stage.

Last time it was announced in March but I think they’ve form in being late with previous deals. If the kind of deal that’s mooted in certain parts of the media (involving a number of broadcasters sharing U.K. and Ireland rights) is what is being done, it might be just a case of trying to dot the Is and cross the Ts. It’s a bit more complex than doing an exclusive deal with one broadcaster.

I wouldn’t put it past that what awec moots above may be correct, btw. Eir Sport being out of the running and Sky being basically out of rugby union (Lions aside) really dampens pay tv interest in these rights.

Red Silurian

Cookiemunster wrote: »

That link confirms nothing more than a 24 team tournament. It actually says that the format and dates have yet to be confirmed.

The reason behind last seasons format was because the 3 "domestic" competitions weren't on a level playing field with regards the last seasons completion... The English Premiership for example was still running it's 2019/20 season in October

My theory, and it's only a theory, is the 4 South African clubs could be somewhat introduced for this coming season, possibly in the Challenge Cup, or maybe the top 2 in the Rainbow cup will go champions and the others will go challenge

Eod100

Cookiemunster wrote: »

That link confirms nothing more than a 24 team tournament. It actually says that the format and dates have yet to be confirmed.

Not sure what different format could be used for 24 teams and Munster basing season tickets on current model.

Lost Ormond

Eod100 wrote: »

Not sure what different format could be used for 24 teams and Munster basing season tickets on current model.

Munster may base season tickets on current model but that like anything else around tickets is subject to change.