Fixtures are out

3 home Friday night (19:35) games:
Leinster (Nov 8th)
Scarlets (Mar 20th)
Glasgow (Apr 10th)

4 home Saturday night (19:35) games:
Treviso (Oct 5th)
Cardiff (Feb 15th)
Ulster (Apr 25th)
Edinburgh (May 16th)

3 Saturday evening (17:15) games:
Cheetahs (Oct 26th)
Kings (Nov 30th)
Munster (Dec 21st)

Really happy with the times, and Fridayness of some games

Wednesday at 1pm for the fixtures. Rounds 1-20 being confirmed.

Fixtures out this week. Confirmed by the league on twitter.

Ya B is definitely the more open, for us having Glasgow was almost a blessing in disguise because they gave so few points away to other sides, now teams can pick up points all over the place, but in turn could drop them almost anywhere too, we'll have to be on form at home and hope to get a good fixture list v the conference A sides, as there aren't a pile of easy away fixtures v our own conference . Overall I'd be quietly confident we can match last season in the league, if not a little better.

B looks more open, you could make a case for 6/7 sides having a shot re the playoffs.

A looks like either Ulster/Ospreys maybe Cheetahs joining Leinster and Glasgow in playoffs.

Hard to know what to make of them, they seem fairer but probably will still be very tricky

The rumoured conferences have been confirmed and will be in place for the 2019/20 and 2020/21 seasons.

Evil_g wrote:
Simon Thomas believes otherwise:

Well, in fairness it was Simon Thomas we were all quoting in the first place. He seems to have good sources, but tends to print everything he hears.
If his latest "likely scenario" is more accurate than his last, then it kinda makes a mockery of the whole idea of the conferences being based on finishing positions in the previous season, if they don't decide who goes with whom until after the season is over. Basically the rule seems to be the Irish and Welsh teams are assigned based on position (1 and 4 from one with 2 and 3 from the other) and then the others are decided by committee.
No real complaints on how it's worked out though. No Glasgow is a bonus but I reckon Treviso are the real team to avoid - their extra two games against Zebre will give them a bit of a head start. Should be a competitive conference. Even if Munster pull away and Kings implode, there should be some good battles for positions 2-6.
I make it three playoff teams each salmson, but the other one has three of the bookies' four favourites.

Scarlets replacing the Hairsprays isn't necessarily better for us as they surely can't be as shite as last season. They've a new coach arriving from the Crusaders so you'd expect a bit of a performance bounce.

Edinburgh & Benneton are tough, gritty teams too so they'd be pretty bruising encounters home & away. In saying that, I'd be relishing the chance to stuff it to Cockerill after his comments from the time we played Edinburgh last September. In the immortal words of Kevin Keegan "I would LOVE IT if we beat them".

If that's the way it is that's more good than bad for us:

Positives:
Lose Cheetahs, get Kings
Lose Glasgow, get Edinburgh
Lose Ospreys, get Scarlets (this one's fairly marginal, there's bugger all difference between the Welsh sides, Dragons asides).

Negative:
Lose Zebre, get Treviso

Edit: Or put more simply, 4 of this season's playoff teams in the other conference, and just 2 in ours.

pinky wrote: Based on the allegedly proposed conference re-jig, it turns out that all that would change is that Ospreys go into B and Scarlets join us in A.
So basically instead of merging, they just swap places

Simon Thomas believes otherwise:

Conference A
Glasgow (Scotland 1)

Leinster (Ireland 2)

Ulster (Ireland 3)

Ospreys (Wales 1)

Dragons (Wales 4)

Zebre (Italy 2)

Cheetahs (South Africa 1)

Conference B
Edinburgh (Scotland 2)

Munster (Ireland 1)

Connacht (Ireland 4)

Cardiff Blues (Wales 2)

Scarlets (Wales 3)

Benetton (Italy 1)

Southern Kings (South Africa 2)

Link

Lose Zebre and gain Benetton. Yay.

Thanks,

2 mates have moved to Pro14 cities so going to make use of the free accommodation!

GTTC wrote: Anyone know when the fixtures will be announced?

Late July I guess.

Anyone know when the fixtures will be announced?

Some chat that the Pro 14 final for 2019/20 season will be at the Cardiff City Stadium. Nothing official yet.

Based on the allegedly proposed conference re-jig, it turns out that all that would change is that Ospreys go into B and Scarlets join us in A.
So basically instead of merging, they just swap places