Until such time as the Guinness Pro12 dips into the US gravy train, it’ll just have to make do with a cross-border competition from four different countries.
At last Tuesday’s seasonal launch in the Aviva Stadium, the ever-eloquent Gerald Davies, Pro12 Rugby chairman, called upon everyone to embrace the Pro12’s cross-border diversity, and having quoted William Shakespeare at last season’s launch, concluded his opening address by quoting Robert Browning this time.
“A man’s reach should exceed his grasp, Or what’s a heaven for?”
It’s doubtful that many of those even competing in the Pro12 would be quite so moved, but then again on reflection, Connacht’s stirring and stunning triumph – along with the decision to have the final in Murrayfield – was something of a boon for the competition, even if Leinster might not have seen it that way.
Wearying effects
From the moment the two sides met a week after the Six Nations at the Sportsground, Connacht’s unlikely rise gave the Pro12 a climax it hasn’t known in years, which was all the more welcome given the wearying effects of a World Cup season.
The organisers have ensured a climactic ending to the regular 22-game campaign this season with a manufactured conclusion on May 6th, which has, all too predictably, been entitled Super Saturday.
All six matches will kick off at the same time and will be parochial affairs: two Welsh and Irish derbies, with Glasgow facing Edinburgh and Zebre taking on Treviso. The playoffs will take place a fortnight later, with the final at the Aviva Stadium on May 27th.
So an interesting, localised finale is seemingly assured, as is usually the case, for the Pro12 has historically been illuminated with high-quality semi-finals and finals.
Last year was no exception, with Leinster and Connacht producing their best performances of the campaign in their home semi-finals, and Connacht going better again in the final.
The organisers’ decision in advance to have the final in Murrayfield was not without its bad planning – clashing as it did with the Edinburgh marathon – but on balance the sense of occasion and record attendance for a final proved a benchmark for the often troubled competition.
Having the final at the Aviva appears the likeliest way to replicate that sale of 35,000 tickets last May, while there remains the forlorn hope that Dublin hoteliers won’t rip off customers on the same scale.
There must also be the hope that the Welsh RFU will pitch their bid for the 2017 final at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff.
Whether the Italians are yet ready to host a final is a moot point, but rotating the final at the main stadia in each participating country would ensure the competition’s growth, and certainly Italy retains the most potential, as yet untapped, for the tournament’s further development.
Priority
Of course, the league remains a particularly hard competition to sell in Wales.
The Pro12 chief executive, Martin Anayi, has said increasing the tournament’s fan base is their priority and with disgruntled Welsh fans specifically in mind, have thus decided to abandon Sunday matches in Wales. This will be well received in the other countries as well.
Even so, the Welsh have always seemed like reluctant participants having lost their much cherished Anglo-Welsh League. The clear signals from the English clubs are that they are doing just dandy for themselves.
So too, of course, are the French, whose impending €98 million a year deal with Canal+ for rights to the Top 14 and Pro D2 dwarf the undisclosed but relatively modest combined rights for the Pro12 of around €11 million. Securing increased TV rights is paramount.
Whatever about a climactic run-in and final few weekends, where – or more accurately when – the league struggles is from the November window through to the end of the Six Nations in mid-March. What with the December and January rounds of European matches, the league is left sucking the hind tit of the season. It just becomes very staccato and the league’s leading lights rarely feature.
The World Cup pretty much had the same effect on the first three months of last season’s campaign, so it’s little wonder that the Pro12 only caught fire from mid-March onwards. This season, therefore – with teams and players wanting to make an impression both in the opening six rounds of the league and the first forays into Europe – should be different.
Another difference, of course, is that Connacht are reigning champions.
From their opening day joust with Glasgow, they will be a target now, as John Muldoon admits. “The surprise factor is gone. I would imagine there won’t be too many teams coming to the Sportsground and resting players or leaving some of their international contingent behind. That in itself will pose a big challenge for us. The key last year was that our away form was so good. It will be difficult. It is not a Wold Cup year so there will be a tighter focus and we are also involved in the Champions Cup. It is a huge challenge.”
Yet they were deserving champions, and are capable of making hay again through the November and Six Nations windows. They won five of the first six before and during the World Cup, and four from four from the week before the Six Nations until the end.
Gregor Townsend, who coached Glasgow to their first title two seasons ago before Connacht wrenched it from their grasp on successive days at the Sportsground, does not believe Connacht will fade away.
“No, they’ve got a formula that worked for them. I’m sure they’ve been doing that in pre-season. They always had that aggression, that passion playing at home; what Pat [Lam] has done is make them more ambitious and certainly improve their skills.
“The final was a great example of taking on one of the best defences in Europe and finding gaps and running the ball from your own 22. I think they’ll have the same approach and will be very tough to beat.
“In the first half of the season no one was tipping them to get to the playoffs. They had to build their confidence through their performances, and they should start the season with that confidence. I genuinely mean this – any one of seven or eight teams could win.”
Competitive
Facing into his last season as the Glasgow head coach before succeeding Vern Cotter at Scotland, Townsend said: “I see this Pro12 being more competitive than the last two, which were already pretty competitive with four or five teams pushing right to the wire. I can see seven or eight teams this year in the mix. We’ve all got our players from the beginning of the season, so you should see teams really competitive right at the beginning.”
Ulster, boosted by the arrival of Charles Piutau to add to their attacking riches and with the Kingspan such a fortress, should be one of those contenders. Without the same potency, Rassie Eramus will assuredly need time at Munster, and akin to the Welsh, the league does not seem to do it for their supporter base.
Indeed, perhaps more than any of the Irish teams, Munster’s history dictates their fanbase will judge them more by what they do in Europe.
Asked if he was glad that there would be no World Cup this season, as there was in his first, trying campaign as Leinster head coach, Leo Cullen quipped that he’d miss watching such a high-quality tournament. But his answer was laden with sarcasm.
Leinster and Glasgow have been the league’s most consistent sides in recent years and having supplied over 20 players apiece to the World Cup, they were assuredly hardest hit last season and thus should be less affected this. Even then, they still finished first and third.
So by rights, they should be there or thereabouts again.
