PRO14 GAMES ON A MONDAY
THERE will no South African teams in the first raft of confirmed Guinness PRO14 games due to the travel restrictions surrounding the pandemic.
The new league season will kick-off on October 2 – but with only 12 of the 14 teams playing fixtures for the remainder of this year.
So far, the first 11 rounds of matches have been announced, with confirmed dates and kickoff times for the opening eight weeks, taking us through to the middle of January 2021.
The plan is to bring two SA teams on board at some point in the new year – the Cheetahs and one other.
With the Southern Kings having withdrawn from the league and gone into voluntary liquidation, a replacement team is being sought from the country’s professional franchises.
The PRO14 will retain a conference structure, with seven teams in each section, including a South African side in each pool.
But only the teams from Wales, Ireland, Scotland and Italy will play matches through until mid-January, with six fixtures each weekend.
If South African teams do become involved in the new year, it remains to be seen whether their matches would count towards the league table.
They clearly wouldn’t be able to fit in the full 21 rounds of matches and it’s hard to see them playing every other team once.
Above all, you would have to ensure that the sides from the other countries play the same number of fixtures.
So the South African matches might well not count towards league standings.
The new season will get underway on Friday, October 2, with Cardiff Blues involved in the opening fixture.
John Mulvihill’s men travel to Parma to take on Zebre, with the game kicking off at 6pm local time.
Later that night, the Dragons face a daunting start to their campaign, lining up against Leinster in Dublin, with an 8.15pm kick-off.
Then the following afternoon, the Scarlets host Munster, while the Ospreys are away to Edinburgh in the evening.
All PRO14 matches will again be shown live by Premier Sports, while S4C will also be broadcasting a game involving a Welsh team each weekend.
Meanwhile, discussions are ongoing about expanding the tournament to include more South African franchises from the 2021-22 season.
The plan is to have four sides from the land of the world champions on board, making it the PRO16.
It would be up to SA Rugby to decide which four, but the expectation is that it would be the four Super Rugby sides - the Bulls, Stormers, Sharks and Lions.
They will no longer be involved in Super Rugby from next year, so a move to a European league is very much on the cards.
PRO14 fixtures 2020-21 Round 1
Friday, Oct 2: Zebre v Cardiff Blues (6pm), Ulster v Benetton (8.15pm), Leinster v Dragons (8.15pm)
Saturday, Oct 3: Scarlets v Munster (3pm), Connacht v Glasgow (5pm), Edinburgh v Ospreys (7.40pm)
Round 2
Fri, Oct 9: Dragons v Zebre
(8.15pm)
Sat, Oct 10: Benetton v Leinster (5.15pm), Ospreys v Ulster (5.15pm), Glasgow v Scarlets (5.15pm), Munster v Edinburgh (7.35pm), Cardiff Blues v Connacht (7.35pm),
Round 3
Fri, Oct 23: Leinster v Zebre (7.35pm), Benetton v Scarlets (8.15pm)
Sat, Oct 24: Ospreys v Glasgow
(5.30pm)
Sun, Oct 25: Ulster v Dragons (3pm), Edinburgh v Connacht (7.35pm)
Mon, Oct 26: Munster v Cardiff Blues (8.15pm)
Round 4
Sun, Nov 1: Dragons v Munster (2pm), Connacht v Benetton (4.30pm), Scarlets v Edinburgh (6.45pm)
Mon, Nov 2: Cardiff Blues v Ulster (6pm), Zebre v Ospreys (7.15pm), Glasgow v Leinster (8.15pm)
Round 5
Sat, Nov 7: Benetton v Munster (2pm), Dragons v Connacht (5.15pm)
Sun, Nov 8: Ospreys v Leinster (3pm), Scarlets v Zebre (5.15pm) Mon, Nov 9: Edinburgh v Cardiff Blues (8.15pm), Ulster v Glasgow (8.15pm)
Round 6
Sat, Nov 14: Connacht v Scarlets (7.35pm)
Sun, Nov 15: Munster v Ospreys (2.45pm), Glasgow v Dragons (6.30pm)
Mon, Nov 16: Zebre v Ulster (6pm), Cardiff Blues v Benetton (8.15pm), Leinster v Edinburgh (8.15pm)
Round 7
Sun, Nov 22: Zebre v Connacht (2.30pm), Ospreys v Benetton (3pm), Leinster v Cardiff (5.15pm), Ulster v Scarlets (7.35pm)
Mon, Nov 23: Dragons v Edinburgh (6pm), Glasgow v Munster (8.15pm)
Round 8
Sat, Nov 28: Connacht v Ospreys (7.35pm)
Sun, Nov 29: Scarlets v Leinster (5.15pm), Cardiff Blues v Glasgow (7.35pm)
Mon, Nov 30: Benetton v Dragons (6pm), Munster v Zebre (8.15pm), Edinburgh v Ulster (8.15pm)
Round 9 Dec 26/27:
Connacht v Ulster, Munster v Leinster, Zebre v Treviso, Glasgow v Edinburgh, Dragons v Cardiff Blues, Ospreys v Scarlets
Round 10 Jan 2/3:
Leinster v Connacht, Ulster v Munster, Treviso v Zebre, Edinburgh v Glasgow, Cardiff Blues v Ospreys, Scarlets v Dragons
Round 11 Jan 9/10:
Connacht v Munster, Leinster v Ulster, Zebre v Edinburgh, Glasgow v Treviso, Cardiff Blues v Scarlets, Dragons v Ospreys
(All kick-offs are local time)