IGNORE THE SPIN — THE PRO14 IS NOT FIT FOR PURPOSE
There is no rhyme or reason to the messy system put in place
THE Pro14 propaganda has been in full flow this Christmas week. ‘Shock results, last-minute winners and sell-out crowds’ was the email summary of round 11. Scratch the surface of this festive cheer and a picture emerges of a confusing tournament format, not fit for purpose.
It’s daft to be raving about 14man Edinburgh’s excellent win over the previously unbeaten Glasgow in front of a record 23,833 Murrayfield attendance last Saturday. The reality is the two-conference set-up is penalising the best efforts of Richard Cockerill to rejuvenate professional rugby in the Scottish capital.
Edinburgh have won seven of 11 matches, for 32 points and fourth spot in Conference B, three points behind Ulster in the third and last automatic Champions Cup qualification slot.
That is in contrast to the less competitive Conference A, where third-placed Cheetahs, the South African newcomers on 29 points, are ineligible to qualify for Europe next season. It means this section’s third automatic Champions Cup spot is a shootout between Cardiff and Connacht, fourth and fifth on 23 points. The Blues have five wins and Connacht just four.
It is grating that one of this decidedly average duo could be rewarded by automatically securing Champions Cup entry by finishing outside the top three. It would be an insult to Edinburgh’s far better attempt in the other conference.
This ambiguity is typical of the convoluted format which was implemented at the last minute to accommodate the two South African franchises, who were otherwise facing professional oblivion. SANZAAR decided last April to downsize its struggling Super 18 four-conference format and return to a straight 15-team league, where there would be no unfair scheduling anomalies, like when the Lions reached the final after 15 pool matches in 2017 which didn’t feature a single fixture against New Zealand opposition.
That then opened the door for South Africa to look north and offload the unwanted Cheetahs and Kings.
Their arrival meant the fixture scheduling problems which severely diluted the Super Rugby product have now been passed on with Pro12’s increase to Pro14. A 14-team league, where each team plays each other twice, would have meant a 26-game regulation season, four more than the 22 that became the norm when the Italian sides joined in 2010/11. But instead of finding space in a congested calendar to accommodate extra fixtures, Pro14 officials came up with their confusing two-conference system — last used by Celtic League in 2002/03 when it had 16 participants — where clubs play 21 regular-season matches. For an Irish province, that means a dozen home and away fixtures against sides in their own conference, four home-and-away derbies against the two Irish sides in the other conference and then one-off matches against the remaining five teams from other countries. This has created an inequitable lucky dip which has no rhyme or reason. Munster and Ulster each have 11 home games, 10 away. Leinster and Connacht have the reverse. And some fixtures no longer on the roster will likely have end-of-season consequences which damage credibility. For instance, Munster’s hopes of closing the 12-point gap on Conference A leaders Glasgow are affected by the fact the Warriors do not have to travel this season to Leinster or host Ulster. Meanwhile, for Connacht, two of the three Galway games no longer on its roster (Treviso and Dragons) were likely home bankers. It’s quite a mess, and it’s added to by having the two Scottish, two Italian and two South African teams each play their derby three times. In Edinburgh’s case it means they must face tabletopping Glasgow three times, but only take on Connacht once, in Galway not at Myreside. It makes no sense at all. Even the muchhyped Irish derbies are no longer viewed as equal. Leinster’s Leo Cullen remarked on St Stephen’s Day how their New Year’s Day game against Connacht ‘is important but when you play against a team in your conference [Ulster on January 6], it’s almost a little bit more again on top of that.’ That just doesn’t sound right, it should not be the case.
Pro14 officials will gloss over anything that damages the league’s reputation. They insist that the bottom line in restructuring the tournament is the increased money it will make, a reputed €500,000 per club this season through its accommodation of the South African duo.
However, teething difficulties surrounding games in the southern hemisphere can’t be swept under the carpet either. Leinster were hampered by visa issues, Ulster by flight-home delays. Attendances have been mostly terrible down there, while there is the potential April headache of Munster having to spend a fortnight in South Africa during the three-week gap between Champions Cup quarter-final and semi-final.
Pro14 are only footing the bill for a travelling squad of 28. So if Munster are in the semi-final, they would face huge extra expense if coach Johann van Graan, understandably, wanted to bring additional players to ensure their Euro prep is as good as it would be in Limerick, rather than being penalised by novelty away fixtures.
Given Super Rugby’s damaged legacy of expansion and its decision to downsize to save its skin in 2018, there is a fear about where exactly Pro14’s administrators are going. Their expansionist ideas are in pursuit of additional TV rights and other revenue streams to stop the product lagging further behind its Premiership and Top 14 rivals.
East-coast American and German sides have been suggested as the next possible territories to court. The SARU recently listed the Pumas and Griquas as their next teams for northern inclusion if further openings arise, though it is rumoured the Anglo Welsh Cup would be the first step for that duo.
As the year turns, African media have been gushing about how Pro14 has given them ‘a compelling alternative to Super Rugby’ these past four months, but the jury is very much out north of the equator. No amount of festive propaganda can disguise the reality that this rushed marriage of convenience remains a muddled hard sell.
This format has led to an inequitable lucky dip