PRO14 conferences announced

Plans for the Guinness PRO14 season took a step forward when the two Conferences for the new season were announced on Tuesday

     The conferences were  drawn based on finishing positions and  resulted in six teams swopping conferences.

  The PRO14  will kick off on  September 27 and there will be three rounds of games before a break for the weekend of the World Cup quarter-finals on October 19 and 20.

     The Kings have announced that pre-season  for contracted players will start on July 1.

   The Southern Kings, who could win only two of their 21 games and finished bottom of log, will continue to play in Conference B

    Using the completed conference tables, teams were ordered from one to 14 based upon their final points totals and then ranked within their union.

    The criteria for placing teams in each Conference relies on competitiveness and ensuring an equal spread of teams from each union are present in both Conferences.

    The   PRO14  is made up of 14 clubs – four Irish, four Welsh, two Scottish, two Italian and two South African teams – who compete in two conferences to reach the quarter finals, semi-finals and final. 

   The Conferences for the next two seasons are:

Conference A: Glasgow Warriors, Leinster, Ulster, Ospreys Dragons, Zebre, Cheetahs.

Conference B: Edinburgh,  Munster,  Connacht,  Cardiff Blues, Scarlets,  Benetton, Southern Kings.