Pro14 Provincial Primer

With the inaugural Pro14 season fast approaching, how are the Irish provinces looking?

Pro14 setup

The Pro14 brings a new structure and with it new challenges.

The teams are split into two conferences of seven teams, playing home and away against their own conference and either home or away against the teams in the other conference.

That makes 19 games, the remaining two are made by playing additional derby games against your nations’ teams in the other conference.

Still with me? The top three teams in each conference reach the playoffs, with the top sides jumping straight to the semi-finals and sides two and three playing cross-conference for the right to join them.

The South African teams will not play in the Champions Cup, so qualification comes down to the top three non South African teams and the best fourth placed team.

While all of that seems very complicated, it will be easier when it starts to unfold. What it does mean is that in-conference game have extra importance and that first place holds an extra reward over second and third.

What moves have the Irish provinces been making and how are they primed for a charge at this first run of the Pro14?

Connacht

Having won the league title two seasons ago, Connacht slumped to a disappointing eighth place last year.

Pat Lam had announced before last season began that he would be departing for Bristol at the end of the year, did that announcement lead to an under performance? I certainly believe it must have had some impact, but realistically their League triumph took advantage of a World Cup disrupted season, aided by them playing out of their skins.

So, while the fall from first to eighth was disappointing, they over achieved one year and slightly under achieved the next.

Kieran Keane is the new man in charge at Connacht and is a very well respected appointment. He has most recently been assistant coach at the Chiefs in Super Rugby and before that was head coach at Tasman at Provincial Cup level (just below Super Rugby).

Keane has been noted for the attacking style played by his teams, which will be good news for Connacht fans keen to see Pat Lam’s good work continued.

Player movements

Connacht are losing a large number of players this year — 13 so far — and while most would not be starters, losing that much proven depth is not good for any team.

For me the headline departures are John Cooney and Marnitz Boshoff.

Cooney won his first cap this summer and will have hopes of winning more, but sitting behind Kieran Marmion will not help with that ambition so his departure is understandable.

Boshoff was brought in to much fanfare to be the starter at outhalf, but was hampered by injury. Just as he was back fit he asked to be released on compassionate grounds. Again, understandable, but tough on Connacht.

The incoming group of players is led by Rory Scholes. He is a promising young player who Ulster were sorry to lose to Edinburgh and his return to Ireland is a sure signal that he is keen to be part of the next wave of young Irish international wingers fighting it out to replace Keith Earls and co.

Aside from Scholes there are no prominent names, but there are some good players who will excel in the right situation.

Outlook

A new coach and a lot of player turnover will signal a tough start for Connacht, but having three of their first four games at home gives them a little leeway.

They seem to have landed the stronger South African team in their conference in the form of the Cheetahs and I think they will be hard pressed to make the playoffs. But, if they can do well at home and pick up a few wins away, then fourth spot and European qualification should be within their grasp.

Ulster

A fixture in the playoffs over recent seasons, their fifth place finish last year will not have gone down well, particularly as they also finished bottom of their Champions Cup group.

Ulster have been disappointing in Europe for a number of seasons and have failed to deliver playoff success in the League. This has necessitated a change and Jono Gibbes has been appointed as head coach for this season.

Gibbes is remembered fondly in Leinster as the forwards coach from the Joe Schmidt era. He has spent the intervening years in the same role with Clermont, delivering similar success there. His step up to head-coach is well deserved and this is a great signing for Ulster.

Player Movements

Page one, two, three and four of this section is the departure of Ruan Pienaar. It has been discussed at length that Ulster and Pienaar wanted to continue their relationship, but the IRFU insisted that he had to go due to their policy on consecutive contracts for foreign players.

The man being brought in to replace Pienaar is John Cooney from Connacht. Looking for more first team rugby he is stepping into an excellent opportunity. Cooney is a fine player and I feel will excel with more playing time, but the loss of Pienaar’s leadership will surely be felt.

Ulster will also be without Paddy Jackson and Stuart Olding who look set to miss significant time due to ongoing court proceedings.

This leaves a major gap for Ulster in the inside backs and they have signed Australian international Christian Lealiifano from the Brumbies on a short term deal to fill this spot.

This is a deal that suits both parties. Lealiifano has just returned from a lengthy absence for treatment of leukaemia and this gives him competitive game-time to get back to his best prior to the Super Rugby season. While Ulster benefit from his leadership and a true feel-good story.

Outlook

The arrival of Gibbes gives the players and fans reason to be hopeful for this season. He will have his work cut out dealing with the halfback instability as first order of business, but there are plenty of veteran players to help him.

Changing a culture is not a quick job, but I think Gibbes will work well with the squad he has and the third playoff spot is theirs for the taking.

Munster

Finishing top of the League and making the Champions Cup semi-final last season signaled a return from a few years of rebuilding. However, the nature of their loss in the League final and European cup showed that player depth was an issue and that the journey started by Rassie Erasmus had a way to go yet.

The news that Erasmus was triggering his notice period to head back to South Africa was disappointing for Munster. He had a vision and was delivering on it, with the full buy in of the players.

The timing of the announcement has left little time to find a suitable replacement and so Munster will begin the season with Erasmus in charge until December and no successor yet announced.

Player Movements

The two biggest names leaving the southern province are Francis Saili and Ireland stalwart Donnacha Ryan.

Saili’s replacement was already aboard in the form of Jaco Taute, while Ryan is swapping lockers with Gerbrandt Grobler who arrives from Racing 92.

Other notable arrivals include scrumhalf depth in the form of James Hart, the return from Northampton of playmaker J.J. Hanrahan, powerful backrower Chris Cloete and former Ulster and Grenoble centre Chris Farrell.

Outlook

Munster have been on the up and seem to have done very well this summer on the player side of things. They have retained significant veteran ability and acquired both depth and new starting caliber talent.

However, the loss of Erasmus will be hard to overcome, particularly without knowing his replacement. This may lead to a shaky start, but they will rally and have top spot in their sights, certainly they will make the top three.

Leinster

Crucial dropped points at the end of both the League and Cup campaigns led to Leinster having trickier ties than they should have in the knock-out stages last season. Then, slow starts in both brought about their exit.

A season that promised much fizzled out and Leinster will be keen to ensure that it is not repeated.

The introduction of Stuart Lancaster to the coaching team last year solidified the group and they continued their growth from the previous year. Leinster have extended the whole coaching ticket and so enter the season as the only one of the provinces without a coaching change.

Player Movements

Leinster are losing significant experience with the departures of Zane Kirchner and Dominic Ryan, plus the retirements of Hayden Triggs, Mike McCarthy and Mike Ross.

Kirchner is replaced by in-demand New Zealander James Lowe, while Scott Fardy comes in to fill the playing time and leadership void left by McCarthy and Triggs. Mike Ross will be missed, but he had become more peripheral over recent seasons and similar can be said for Dominic Ryan.

Outlook

Leinster have done very well in the player transfer market, managing to upgrade for their losses, on paper at least.

The coaching staff remain in place and will be expected to deliver more with an extra year together.

The only real problem for Leinster comes in the form of injury. For the start of the season they will have to do without Johnny Sexton, Joey Carbery, Garry Ringrose, Robbie Henshaw and Sean O’Brien.

If Leinster can avoid further midfield injuries and manage to keep themselves in touch until the injured players return, then they should be targeting top spot in their conference.

Dublin has been selected as the venue for the final of the first ever Pro 14 and all the Irish provinces will be keen to represent the country there, why not an all Irish affair?