Top eight decided with Welsh regions as also-rans

THERE is one full round of matches left, but the race for the play-offs has been run with the top eight already determined. Leinster will finish at the top and will have home advantage against the loser of the match between Edinburgh and Glasgow who face each other on May 21.

It is congested below Leinster with one point separating Munster in second and Ulster in fifth. Two South African sides, the Sharks and the Stormers, are third and fourth and with the Bulls will play in next season’s Heineken Champions Cup, subject to confirmation. All of them are away to Celtic opposition in the final round. The Sharks are in Ulster and the winner will be guaranteed a home quarter-final.

The Stormers are at the Scarlets and the Bulls visit the Ospreys. Munster have the little matter of a contest with Leinster at the Aviva Stadium. Unlike the Top 14 and the Premiership, the equation for Champions Cup qualification is not a simple one of league position.

The eighth team in the table, currently occupied by Edinburgh, who have the same number of points as Glasgow, will be in the Challenge Cup because none of the four Welsh regions has finished in the top half of the table.

The tournament is designed to ensure that two countries cannot fill all the Champions Cup places: the 16 teams are split into four groups, one made up of the Irish sides, another of the South Africans, a third of the Welsh regions and the fourth the teams from Scotland and Italy. The winners of those groups, which factor in only games between the sides, qualify for the Champions Cup.

In Wales’ case, it means the Scarlets or the Ospreys will go through. The Scarlets have a fivepoint advantage over their rivals but have played a game more and the Ospreys’ game in hand is against the Dragons, who have won only two matches all campaign and sit one off the bottom. It is not Welsh rugby’s finest hour.