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PRO14 agree 2019/20 restart plan and confirm next season's Champions Cup qualifiers
Guinness PRO14 officials have confirmed Saturday, August 22, as the restart date for their suspended 2019/20 season. No games have been played in the tournament since Connacht’s March 1 win at Southern Kings. However, plans have now been agreed to get the campaign up and running again in the five-country tournament, starting with two rounds of derby matches before staging semi-finals and a final in September.
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It’s claimed that the exact who plays who in the all-Ireland and all-Wales matches has still to be decided, but the overall planned schedule will cut the regular season from 21 rounds of matches to 15.
That will leave title holders Leinster likely taking on Munster with Edinburgh facing Ulster in the other semi-final unless Glasgow or Scarlets can somehow elbow their way into the top-two situation in their conferences against the odds. They are currently a respective nine and eight points off second place.
These six teams will definitely represent the PRO14 in the 2020/21 Champions Cup after it was also decided that qualification would be based on how the table looked after 13 rounds of matches, officials deciding that the two postponed matches in that particular round – Zebre v Ospreys and Benetton v Ulster – would be declared 0-0 draws.
However, more PRO14 teams could yet qualify as Champions Cup officials are mulling over a running a one-year, 24-team tournament that would allow for eight qualifiers, paving the way for Dragons and Connacht to potentially take part.
This sounds promising https://t.co/P3NDdquf7O
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) June 16, 2020
PRO14 tournament director David Jordan said: “Safety has been, and will continue to be, the highest priority as we look to activate our plans to restart the 2019/20 season. We are very fortunate to be in a position where everyone involved is confident that we can conclude the season on the field of play.
“The work and diligence of our leading medical personnel at our unions, our clubs, World Rugby and key stakeholders to get us to this point has been immense. Operating across five territories often brings different complexities to the Guinness PRO14 but our unions have worked hard to bring proposals to their governments so we may put plans into action.”
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A statement announcing that the August 22 restart date had been confirmed at a PRO14 board meeting on Tuesday read: “The target date was agreed based upon the information currently available from each jurisdiction in which the Guinness PRO14 is played.
“Since announcing an indefinite suspension of match action in March, the tournament team at PRO14 Rugby has worked alongside key medical personnel at our unions and clubs as well as key stakeholders such as World Rugby to map out a return to action.
“With rigorous protocols outlined for training, game-day logistics and match play, PRO14 Rugby is confident that proposals submitted by our unions to governments across the UK, Ireland, Italy and South Africa will allow our teams get back on the pitch. Discussions around these proposals will be on-going between each union and their respective governments.”
Jurie Roux, CEO of SA Rugby, has suggested this hoped-for restart might be difficult in South Africa, however. “We hope to see the Cheetahs and Southern Kings play in the end of this season’s Guinness PRO14, but there are many factors to take into consideration before we know how it will work.
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“The COVID-19 pandemic is still rife in our country and the health and safety of South Africans remain the most important priority, which is why we continue to work with the government and all the various stakeholders.
“We have to ensure we handle the return-to-train and eventually return-to-play in the best possible way. We’ll only be able to play in local derbies, but nothing can happen before we can travel internally.”
After the suspended season is concluded with a September 12 final, October 3 has been chosen as the start date for the 2020/21 season.
PRO14 RESTART DATES
Round 14: Saturday, August 22
Round 15: Saturday, August 29
Semi-Finals: Saturday, September 5
Final: Saturday, September 12
In 2018 @ettasreynecke was admitted to ICU 3 times for 3 different reasons, but it didn't stop him taking up MMA (whilst learning to talk to again)
This is his remarkable story, as told to @heagneyl https://t.co/Fox7vj0m5Y
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) May 31, 2020
Comments on RugbyPass
late hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
4 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
24 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
24 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
24 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
24 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
9 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
9 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
28 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
24 Go to comments