Pro14 Season 2019-2020

Burkie1203 wrote: »

Derbies to keep tv companies happy. Plus a grand final. Then dish out prize money.

Europe rumours have gone quiet.

There too many countries with too many rules to know what can and can’t be done. I’d say they have several plans in place and have to wait to see how things play out. The derbies to presumably finish out the PRO14 is an easy one but what happens after that is too up in the air.

Burkie1203 wrote: »

Munster CEO said they have a plan to resume the pro14 20/21 season on first weekend in October. I'd say the early rounds will be derbies again to buy time before any travel. If a global calendar is agreed before that then the new season would be pushed back 3 months.


The 4 LOI clubs in Europe are having weekly tests for covid19.

I’m extremely sceptical about the global calendar happening, think there’ll be too many obstacles. An awful lot of stakeholders involved and it seems to be nearly all give from the NH.

I'm not sure what the outcome will be and whether there will be any concessions from the SH but I don't think we can really use temperature as a strong reason to avoid summer rugby when the SH teams play games in Australia and South Africa. Sydney, Brisbane, Durban, Pretoria etc. all have very warm weather still in February and into March. Singapore, which hosted multiple Sunwolves games, is pretty sweltering for most of the year.

Summer games will be played in the evening to avoid peak temperatures, I'm sure. France already play the T14 in June and August. It's far more likely that a team is playing in 15-20C on an evening than playing in 30C during a heatwave. It's mid June at the moment. Saturday is set to peak at 22C in London, 24C in PariS and 27C in Treviso.

Cookiemunster wrote: »

Indeed. The SH continue using their own calendar playing from Autumn to Spring, while the NH moves to playing through the summer where in Southern England, France and Italy temperatures are regularly hitting 30C or higher.

The Catalan Dragons and London Broncos deal with it, the Toronto Wolfpack have the same problem too.

The solution is to play games in June/July/August at night. I don't think it's an insurmountable problem at all.

One thin is for sure, you absolutely couldn't play rugby in parts of Australia in December and January!

Cookiemunster wrote: »

I wasn't saying that it shouldn't be done, but it does seem that the NH has to change everything to suit the SH (as salmocab suggested), rather than there being a bit of give each way. And when push comes to shove that will derail the efforts. Especially when PRL and LNR have to agree to any changes.

That’s it, too many people have to sign up. I can see the attraction but there will be unintended consequences, games having to be played later in the day might start causing clashes that TV won’t like. I’m for it in principle but I’d like to see the actual proposals published for feedback.

bilston wrote: »

Summer rugby would be a much more attractive product.

But there are clearly obstacles to overcome. Namely the fact that Rugby would be clashing with a different sporting calender, the GAA in Ireland, Wimbledon and Test Cricket in England, Tour De France in France, and maybe most significantly for everyone is the potential for it to clash with Football world cups and Euros. The last thing we want is for the 6/7Ns clashing with those competitions every couple of years.

I agree and I know a lot of rugby fans who love watching other sports in the summer as well as the issue of taking holidays. Not everyone can choose to go on holiday in the depths of winter.

Rugby would be a better spectacle in summer, both on TV and in person.

We're focussing a lot on the existing audience and what the threats to the existing audience may be. We're potentially ignoring the fact that Rugby has a relatively small market share in the Northern Hemisphere and that we have quite a lot more to gain than to lose.

Imagine we were having the opposite conversation. Moving the rugby season in the NH to run alongside the Premiership and Ligue 1 windows.

Podge_irl wrote: »

Well, the business end of the season is now going to be in more questionable weather than it is currently.

Good point.

I think overall the benefits of a switch would outweigh the negatives, but it is a mistake to think it is going to create some sort of rugby utopia for the reasons stated.

The conditions would probably be perfect us, you get one week in the year where the temperatures are in the mid to high 20s.

I was sitting in back garden a few Saturdays ago, it was 20c, I was having a beer (what else does one do during Lockdown!!) and I realised that Ulster were meant to be playing Glasgow that weekend in Belfast, and I thought what a great day that would have been for rugby and spectating.

Synode wrote: »

I lived in Australia for a year. Late evening time would be fine to play sport in most places, especially Sydney or Melbourne. As you said, they do it already.

They do it already starting in the last weekend of February. They're not doing it in December and January.

They could play in it but it's safe to say that it's far more reasonable to play sport in the evening in northern Europe in July/August than it is to play in Australia in December/January.

I mentioned something akin to this a month or two ago. Edinburgh will be hit harder than any side by this break. Scottish rugby is already in financial tatters and Edinburgh released a glut of players. They had a genuine chance of reaching the final this season but I can see them losing top spot in their pool and being eliminated in the knock outs (if the season resumes).

If VDW remains fit, the outhalf situation shouldn't impact them too badly but that's a big if. I wonder would they consider Ruaridh Jackson on a short term deal. He retired last month at 32.

If the season resumes and it's more than just a few games, they may not even make the playoffs.

thomond2006 wrote: »

PROPOSED FIXTURE SCHEDULE
AUGUST 22: Leinster v Munster, Ospreys v Dragons, Connacht v Ulster, Edinburgh v Glasgow Warriors, Zebre v Treviso, Southern Kings v Cheetahs, Scarlets v Cardiff Blues.

AUGUST 29: Ulster v Leinster, Cardiff Blues v Ospreys, Dragons v Scarlets, Glasgow Warriors v Edinburgh, Benetton v Zebre, Cheetahs v Southern Kings, Munster v Connacht.

SEPTEMBER 5: Winner Conference A v Runner-up Conference B, Winner Conference B v Runner-up Conference A.

SEPTEMBER 12: European quarter-finals.

SEPTEMBER 19: PRO14 final.

SEPTEMBER 26: European semi-finals.

https://rugby365.com/tournaments/pro14/news-pro14/provisional-pro14-fixtures-schedule-unveil/

****

Burkie1203 wrote: »

That schedule is a bit mad as it leads straight into the new pro14 season. CC in September suggests home and away 6n on cards in autumn?

I'm not sure if there'll be a home and away 6N this year but I can see there being a prolonged test period in October and November to try and recoup some of the lost revenue. They'll need to run the Pro14 in tandem with it, I'd imagine. No way they can hold off on the season until later.

I can see there being an incredible back log of fixtures that's going to result in one hell of a draining season.

It's a shame the global calendar isn't going to be approved as it would tie in nicely with everything and allow the season to be completed, a test window and a month off before we kick start everything again.