neill_m wrote: Zebre Mk I being replaced by Zebre Mk II. Under new management so to speak. Mk I went bust.

Is this not Mk3, as Arioni were effectively Mk1.
They just packed and moved down the road when it all then bust.

Zebre Mk I being replaced by Zebre Mk II. Under new management so to speak. Mk I went bust.

Zebre have announced that they intend to withdraw from the Guinness PRO12.
The Italian Rugby Federation have released a statement confirming they have been informed by the club of the news.
The FIR say they remain committed to having two Italian sides in next year's competition and are meeting today to discuss the next step.
Zebre entered the PRO12 in 2012 but have finished in the bottom two every season.
The format for next year's competition is yet to be determined, due to the possible inclusion of two South African sides.

Cheetahs hammered Sharks last night in the Currie Cup. They had 9 of the same starters as in the last Super Rugby game against the Kings and 13 of the same squad.
So some serious disruption on the way for them.

If the widely rumoured format is used, there will be one less game in the regular season, so some teams will lose a home game, and some will lose an away game, which presumably will alternate each season.
Overall we will lose two Welsh games (probably one home and one away), one Scottish and one Italian game (one of those at home) and gain three South African (at least one home and one away).
So from the perspective of attractive home fixtures, best case scenario is we lose our home games against Zebre and Dragons and they are replaced with home ties against Cheetahs and Kings.
Worst case, we lose the games against Glasgow and Scarlets and gain only one home SA tie in return.

There doesn't seem to be any suggestion of InterPros being lost.

The rumoured 21 game scenario would have you playing everyone in your own conference twice, everyone in the other conference once, and the two "missing" InterPros for Ireland and Wales (Scots, Italians, Saffers would play each other twice more meaning they face off 3 times a year).

The upside of this is that this schedule - 21 rounds + 3 weekends of playoffs - matches the existing one - 22 rounds + 2 weekends playoffs - in terms of weekends required to play off the competition.

The first downside is that half the teams get 10 home games and half get 11. You could equalise this very easily by having the number of home games as first tie-breaker for teams on the same number of points, so if two teams are level on points then the one who had fewer home games is placed ahead of the other. Only of they have played the same number of games would the usual tiebreakers (number wins, points diff. etc.).

The second downside is that 7 teams lose a home game. Even if both South Africans and Zebre (who barely exist and have no fans) are told to suck it up, 4 of the other 11 teams will need to compensate their season ticket holders. Again I think this can be dealt with easily enough: if Connacht were to tell me, sorry, we only have 10 home league games, but we'll make it up to you by adding a midweek minor test in November vs. Samoa/Fiji/USA/Japan/Georgia (or even someone better) I'd be happy with that.

I'd much rather a 22 game regular season with 11 home games for everyone, but if that can't be accommodated I'm sure it can be worked round.

Westie85 wrote: I would imagine if there ends up being less home games the branch and the IRFU will make a decision in relation to season tickets and quite possibly could offer a refund based on the reduced matches.

The fact of the matter is until an official announcement comes no one knows how many games there will be. Everyone is just speculating.

I think it'd be lunacy not to play the (potential) missing interpros as part of an "interpro league". Make a few videos similar to the ones for the RWC bid to big up the historical significance of the interpro series, get a few respected journos hyping it up, give each member on the winning team a watch, whatever.

I would imagine if there ends up being less home games the branch and the IRFU will make a decision in relation to season tickets and quite possibly could offer a refund based on the reduced matches.

The fact of the matter is until an official announcement comes no one knows how many games there will be. Everyone is just speculating.

I think BBC have rumoured that it will be a 2 conference system. So each team will play the teams in their own conference twice. Then play the teams in the other Conference once, then play 2 rounds of home derbys

So that's 6 home games Vs our own conference then max 4 home games Vs the other conference and then more than likely another home game for the interpro

Effectively we should still get 11 home pro 12 games under this system

One of the Leinster Fans said that there will be less home games with the two 7 teams format.
And season ticket holders have paid over the odds. And would be cheaper to buy home games one by one.

Is this true?

www.the42.ie/kieran-marmion-connacht-pro...ion-3505912-Jul2017/

Kieran's hoping South-Africa will be as much a great trip as Siberia expedition was (as he missed it)...

tlocke wrote:

pinky wrote: So the Pro12 confirm they're having a bit of a chin-wag with the Boks and there'll be a few details whenever.
www.pro12rugby.com/2017/07/19/statement-...african-rugby-union/

Talking about rushing to get something out the door before 5 ...... You could barely call it a statement.

Worst kept secret, ever!

pinky wrote: So the Pro12 confirm they're having a bit of a chin-wag with the Boks and there'll be a few details whenever.
www.pro12rugby.com/2017/07/19/statement-...african-rugby-union/

Talking about rushing to get something out the door before 5 ...... You could barely call it a statement.

So the Pro12 confirm they're having a bit of a chin-wag with the Boks and there'll be a few details whenever.
www.pro12rugby.com/2017/07/19/statement-...african-rugby-union/

Con: Sonar - Crazy Ivan!
www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugby-...retain-full-13351219

Summary: Wales Online's crack team of sleuths can exclusively reveal that the inaccurate story we printed yesterday was in fact inaccurate.
Check back tomorrow to find out which of today's news reports is true. It's the one you'd never suspect ...

£6 million per season is a big chunk of change for the SARU to be paying for the pleasure (before additional TV income). Anyone remember how much the Italians paid?