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74-837: There are two fully professional Italian clubs that play in the United Rugby Championship , in the European Rugby Champions Cup and in the European Rugby Challenge Cup — Benetton and Zebre . There are twelve semi-professional Italian clubs that play in the Top12 , four of which qualify to play in the European Rugby Challenge Cup Qualifying Competition to qualify to the European Rugby Challenge Cup . On 25 July 1911

148-850: A Propaganda Committee was formed to promote the sport of rugby union in Italy. In 1928 this body became the Federazione Italiana Rugby (FIR). In 1934 the FIR was a founder member of the Fédération Internationale de Rugby Amateur , now known as Rugby Europe . The FIR joined the International Rugby Football Board, later known as the International Rugby Board and now as World Rugby, in 1987 when Italy took part in

222-412: A Saturday, allowing visiting teams to have a seven-day turnaround between fixtures, including five "clean days" that do not involve any travel. Should the draw see European teams play both South African teams away, the schedule will see the away team play the two matches back-to-back across two weeks, acting as a "mini-tour". On 24 September 2021, URC confirmed that the top side in each regional pool after

296-582: A bye to the semi-finals with the second and third placed teams in each conference meeting in two quarter-finals for the two remaining semi-final places. This is the first year in which there will be two quarter-finals prior to the semi-finals and final. The South African teams cannot compete in the European Rugby Champions Cup. The top three eligible teams in each conference automatically qualified for following year's Champions Cup. The fourth ranked eligible team in each conference met in

370-646: A four-year deal to broadcast 33 live matches each season. This deal commenced at the start of season 2014–15, Sky have 30 exclusive matches but are only allowed to cover one set of fixtures; for instance, only one Leinster v Munster match was live on Sky with the other on TG4. Regional screening of matches continued, BBC Wales show Scrum V Live on Friday Night with S4C covering a match now on Sunday afternoons. BBC Alba also screened matches, with some also available in English on BBC Scotland, although BBC Alba did offer English language commentary via their Red Button service when

444-425: A full single round robin with three additional 'derby ties' (or one extra derby and two extra Scottish-Italians ties in that pool). The play-offs are made up of the top eight teams, and consist of a straight knockout tournament. Teams are seeded 1–8 and the lowest-seeded teams receive home advantage. The final is held in a pre-arranged venue. Championship points are awarded using the bonus points system ; 4 points for

518-482: A licence to continue on financial grounds. They were replaced by another Italian side, Zebre (now Zebre Parma). Thirty separate teams have taken part in the various versions of the Championship. Of the fourteen teams no longer involved, nine were Welsh premiership clubs, replaced by five new regions. One of those Welsh regions, two South African franchises, One Scottish region and one Italian franchise make up

592-609: A new team, Aironi – joined the league starting with the 2010–11 season. Aironi was replaced by Zebre from the 2012–13 season. Through the 2012–13 season, the Welsh, Irish, Scottish and Italian rugby unions used the league as the sole determinant for Heineken Cup qualification, and from 2013–14 they use it as the sole means of qualification for the successor to the Heineken Cup, the European Rugby Champions Cup . Two South African teams - Southern Kings and Cheetahs joined

666-490: A partnership with Premier Sports and FreeSports to broadcast every Pro14 game live in high definition across the UK for at least the next three years. The agreement, which came into effect for the 2018–19 season, also saw at least one match per round shown live free-to-air on FreeSports. The league is based on regionalised, provincial and franchise representation of the participating nations, except for Benetton which represents

740-415: A play-off match with the winner taking the seventh Champions Cup place. In February 2017, Connacht announced that New Zealander Kieran Keane , Chiefs attack coach, had signed a three-year contract to become their new head coach, replacing Pat Lam who moved to Bristol . Following Keane's appointment, existing forwards coach Jimmy Duffy signed an extension to his deal and academy manager Nigel Carolan

814-529: A play-off series, in line with other rugby club competitions such as Super Rugby , Top 14 , and the English Premiership : at the conclusion of the regular season, the top four placed teams enter the semi-final stage, with the winner of the first vs fourth and second vs third play-offs entering the final (known as the "grand final" in 2010 and 2011 ). Two Italian teams – the former National Championship of Excellence team Benetton Treviso , and

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888-687: A proposal to join the Celtic League. FIR had two possibilities – either entering four existing Italian clubs from the National Championship of Excellence into the league; or creating two teams of Italy-qualified players exclusively for the competition. On 18 July 2009, the FIR announced that Aironi and Praetorians Roma would compete in the Celtic League from the start of the 2010–11 season – beating bids from Benetton Treviso and Duchi Nord-Ovest. Praetorians would be based in Rome at

962-638: A strictly European affair. In a 2016 interview with The Irish Times , IRFU CEO Philip Browne indicated that the Pro12 was seriously considering establishing a US franchise on the country's Atlantic coast in the near future, seeing the recent growth of the sport in the US as an opportunity to help close some of the financial gap between Pro12 and Europe's two major domestic leagues, the English Premiership and France's Top 14 . Browne added that Pro12

1036-554: A subscription basis in its first year. Commencing from the 2014–15 season, Sky Sports became one of the league's broadcast partners, broadcasting 33 live games on a Saturday and also showing both the semi-finals and the final live. Its contract concluded at the end of 2017–18 season. Also starting in the 2014–15 season, Italy's Nuvolari began broadcasting the games involving the two Italian clubs live on its digital free-to-view channel. Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh matches were also broadcast live on BBC Radio Scotland . From

1110-656: A win and 2 for a draw. Bonus points can be earned so long as teams either score four or more tries in a game or lose by seven points or fewer – should a team do both, two bonus points are gained. As for European qualification, the South African teams are eligible for European competition. As of 2023, the top eight teams qualify for the Champions Cup , with the remaining teams qualifying for the Challenge Cup . With three fewer regular season fixtures than in

1184-646: Is Martin Anayi. In 2020 the championship received an investment from CVC Capital Partners who acquired a 28% share in the championship. The organisation's headquarters are at Millbank House, Sandyford , Dublin 18. Starting in the 2010–11 season, the League was broadcast live on BBC Two Wales , BBC Two Northern Ireland , RTÉ , the Irish language channel TG4 , the Scottish Gaelic channel BBC Alba ,

1258-637: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . United Rugby Championship The United Rugby Championship ( URC ) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. For sponsorship reasons the league is known as the Vodacom United Rugby Championship in South Africa, and the BKT United Rugby Championship in

1332-534: Is comparable to the Divisional Championships in the NFL which are also loosely geographically based. For the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 seasons, the winners of each Shield were decided on the basis of all 18 regular season games played, and also guaranteed qualification for the European Rugby Champions Cup, regardless of their overall league position. However, since the start of the 2023-2024 season, this

1406-755: Is currently owned equally by the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU), the Scottish Rugby Union (SRU) and the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU). The Italian Rugby Federation (FIR) may become a shareholder subject to it meeting certain conditions. The board of Celtic Rugby DAC is made up of representatives from the IRFU, SRU, WRU, ProRugby Wales, the FIR and the South African Rugby Union. The chief executive

1480-609: The Cheetahs and Southern Kings , could be added to Pro12 as early as the 2017–18 season. A later BBC report indicated that the Cheetahs and Kings would be added once their removal from Super Rugby was formally announced on 7 July, though neither Celtic Rugby Limited, the South African Rugby Union , nor the two teams would comment on the report. A week after the Cheetahs and Kings' departure from Super Rugby

1554-419: The English Premiership . In February 2009, South Africa was rumoured to be negotiating entry of its current Super Rugby teams into the Celtic League, to take effect when the media contract between SANZAR and News Corporation expires after the 2010 season; these rumours were immediately denied by SA Rugby, the commercial arm of SARU. In the end, nothing came of these rumours, and the competition remained

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1628-534: The Premiership . Fellow Lion, Leigh Halfpenny was signed from Toulon as a replacement. Green background indicates teams that competed in the Pro14 play-offs, and also earned a place in the 2018–19 European Champions Cup (excluding South African teams who are ineligible) Blue background indicates teams outside the play-off places that earned a place in the 2018–19 European Champions Cup, including

1702-607: The SANZAR Super Rugby competition and both sets of naming rights, BKT and Vodacom , were added in the 2022-23 season. Beginning with the creation of the Welsh–Scottish League in 1999, the league became known as the Celtic League when it grew to include teams from Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The league was sponsored by Irish cider makers Magners from the 2006–07 season until 2010–11 , and

1776-547: The Stadio Flaminio , while Aironi would be based in Viadana but would play some matches in the city of Reggio Emilia . On 2 October 2009, the FIR proposed Benetton Treviso in place of Praetorians Roma. On 28 January 2010, the FIR declared that they had withdrawn from negotiations with the Celtic League regarding two Italian teams joining the tournament, with the main issue being a €3 million warranty asked for by

1850-579: The Welsh language channel S4C . The BBC Two Wales matches were usually made available to the rest of the United Kingdom via BBC Red Button . Complete match replays were also available on the BBC iPlayer . Each broadcaster provided feeds to the others for matches in their home territory. While this meant that the league was now available free to air in the UK and Ireland, in Italy it was only available on

1924-646: The 2018–19 season, coverage of the tournament was taken over by Premier Sports in the UK, EirSport in Ireland, DAZN in Italy, and Supersport in South Africa. Coverage of the tournament can be found in other territories – on beIN Sports in France, and on various Setanta Sports channels around the globe (including Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South East Asia and the Middle East), as well as EuroSport. Current broadcasters: Past broadcasters: From 2004 to 2009,

1998-586: The COVID-19 pandemic effectively ended their participation in 2020, and there was no South African participation in the 2020 season, although the competition retained the Pro14 name. Despite the difficulties, however, the competition proved attractive to the South African Rugby Football Union, due to shared time zones and reduced travelling, and the four major Super Rugby franchises - Stormers , Sharks , Bulls and Lions joined

2072-414: The English Premiership. For the first two seasons there were two groups and a knockout to determine a winner. Starting from the 2003–04 season until the 2008–09 season, the champions were determined from league performance, with all the teams in one league. From the 2017–18 season, the regular season employed a conference structure rather than a single round robin league, with 'derby games' between teams from

2146-612: The Pro 14 to replace the liquidated Kings and the Cheetahs, who were withdrawn before the 2021 season. 2017%E2%80%9318 Pro14 The 2017–18 PRO14 (also known as the Guinness PRO14 for sponsorship reasons) was the seventeenth season of the professional rugby union competition originally known as the Celtic League . It is the first season to be referred to as the Guinness PRO14 Championship , with

2220-568: The Pro14, but with an extra round of playoffs, the season is truncated slightly to 21 match weeks and thus can still be scheduled to the same time period as previous models of the competition. Clashes between league matches and international weekends in November and during the Six Nations Championship have been reduced. Due to the travelling distance between Europe and South Africa, home South African games are always played on

2294-721: The Pro14. They join following their removal from the Southern Hemisphere Super Rugby competition. Cheetahs' coaching structure was altered following the move north, with Rory Duncan becoming the team's head coach and Franco Smith taking on the role of director of rugby. During the 2017 Super Rugby season the roles had been reversed. The move will see Duncan take charge of the first team, with Smith focusing on development of junior players and coaches, which will allow him to remain involved with South Africa at international level. The Cheetahs are captained by Niell Jordaan . Southern Kings preparation for

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2368-512: The Scottish and Irish rights were owned by Setanta Sports . Setanta closed down in Scotland in 2009, but Setanta Ireland and Setanta Sports 1 remained available to Irish subscribers. In 2010, RTÉ Sport , BBC Northern Ireland , TG4 , BBC Wales , BBC Alba and SKY Italia came together to buy the Celtic League broadcasting rights. On 2 May 2013, Sky Sports announced that it had agreed

2442-472: The addition of two South African teams. Fourteen teams competed in this season — four Irish teams: Connacht , Leinster , Munster and Ulster ; two Italian teams: Benetton and Zebre ; two Scottish teams: Edinburgh and Glasgow Warriors ; two South African teams: Cheetahs and the Southern Kings ; and four Welsh teams: Cardiff Blues , Dragons , Ospreys and Scarlets . Scarlets came into

2516-509: The beginning of the 2017–18 season. This followed the news that Townsend was leaving the club to become the Scottish national team's new head coach. Scottish international Ryan Wilson was announced as the side's new captain in August 2017, replacing Jonny Gray and Henry Pyrgos . On 1 August 2017, it was announced that the Cheetahs and the Southern Kings would join the Pro12, forming

2590-434: The change of coach, Zebre saw a change to the captaincy with Tommaso Castello serving as co-captain with the previous season's skipper George Biagi . In February 2017, Edinburgh announced that former Leicester Tigers coach Richard Cockerill would be taking over as their new director of rugby from the start of the season. Then acting head coach Duncan Hodge returned to his usual role of Backs Coach. Magnus Bradbury

2664-431: The city of Treviso itself. Benetton was selected for its long history after the project of a second Italian regional team, Praetorians Roma, failed. South Africa and Ireland use explicitly provincial structures, the former operating on a franchise system. Wales employs a regional structure built on an original club foundation where regions originally represented a combination of local premiership clubs, while Scotland employs

2738-516: The competition in 2017 to create Pro14, while the four remaining professional franchises stayed in Super Rugby . The competition adopted a modified two-conference format rather than a full round-robin single table, with extra fixtures to maintain national derby matches. As weaker provinces, both struggled in the three years in which they took part, and were ineligible for European competition. The terminal financial difficulties at Southern Kings, and

2812-618: The competition's other territories, the split branding mirroring the format previously adopted in Super Rugby . The Championship represents the highest level of domestic club or franchise rugby in each of its constituent countries. The Championship is one of the three major professional leagues in Europe (along with the English Premiership and the French Top 14 ), the most successful teams from which go forward to compete in

2886-541: The competition. In August 2017, Cardiff Blues added former players Nicky Robinson and Richie Rees to their backroom staff. They join as kicking coach and backs coach respectively. On 20 June 2017, it was announced that, following a vote in March 2017 to allow the takeover of the club and Rodney Parade by the Welsh Rugby Union , Newport Gwent Dragons would be dropping "Newport Gwent" from its name and would be known simply as Dragons with immediate effect. A new crest

2960-500: The distance from the other teams may make that more of a challenge. While the North American plan remains active, media attention turned in 2017 toward a new possibility of South African teams entering the competition. Following the decision of Super Rugby organiser SANZAAR to drop three teams from the competition (two from South Africa), multiple media reports indicated that the two likeliest South African sides to be axed,

3034-471: The end of the 18-game regular season would be awarded a trophy, a regional Shield . In Ireland, Wales and South Africa, this shield (the URC Irish Shield , URC Welsh Shield and URC South African Shield respectively) functions as an informal national championship title for the main professional sides, while in Scotland and Italy's shared pool, it will be a joint regional trophy. The concept

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3108-451: The first edition of URC in an all South African final, before being runner-up in the second season to Irish side, Munster. no sponsor (all other nations) BKT United Rugby Championship The legal name of the body running the competition is PRO Rugby Championship DAC , a private company limited by shares based in Ireland. The organisation is responsible for running and operating the URC and

3182-456: The four weeks after the regular season has been completed. The South African teams cannot compete in the European Rugby Champions Cup. The top three eligible teams in each conference automatically qualify for following year's Champions Cup. The fourth ranked eligible team in each conference meet in a play-off match with the winner taking the seventh Champions Cup place. Ulster had home advantage against Ospreys by virtue of finishing with

3256-556: The greater number of points accumulated during the PRO14 regular league (62, as opposed to Ospreys’ 44). The match was played on Sunday 20 May, at the Kingspan Stadium. On 30 August, a 13-man referee elite squad was announced by Elite Referee Manager Greg Garner (number of matches refereed) : Note: Additional referees are used throughout the season, selected from a select development squad. Note: Flags to

3330-456: The highest-level continental club competitions, the European Rugby Champions Cup and Challenge Cup . Since 2022–23, despite the name, South African teams have been eligible to qualify for European competitions. The tournament has had a number of names as it has grown, both organisationally and because of sponsors. The current name for the tournament was adopted in 2021, when the league expanded to include four South African teams previously from

3404-407: The inaugural World Cup. The Italy national rugby union team has played in the Six Nations Championship since 2000. Italy bid to host the 2015 Rugby World Cup came close to winning but lost to England by just three votes. The FIR is responsible for fielding several men's national teams: The FIR is also responsible for fielding several women's national teams: This rugby union article

3478-557: The league formed a new partnership with Roc Nation . BKT and Vodacom secured naming rights the following season. As of 2021–22 , the championship season takes place between September and May, with teams split into four regional pools: The Irish Shield pool, the Welsh Shield pool, the South African Shield pool and the Scottish and Italian Shield pool for the purpose of fixture setting. Teams play each of

3552-507: The league, but by 7 February, the Italian clubs had come up with the required funding. By 8 March 2010, a deal had been finalised for Aironi and Benetton Treviso to enter the Celtic League from the 2010–11 season, with each team guaranteed a place in the Heineken Cup. At the end of the 2011–12 season, however, Aironi were no longer available to compete in future competitions as a regional club, as, on 6 April 2012, they were refused

3626-545: The match was not shown on BBC Scotland. BBC Northern Ireland screened all Ulster matches not available on Sky Sports. RTÉ Sport dropped their coverage after the 2014 final due to budget cuts, making TG4 the only broadcasters of the competition in the Republic of Ireland. The semi-finals and finals are available to all broadcasters. On 31 August 2017, SuperSport announced that it had acquired the rights to broadcast matches within South Africa. On 30 April 2018, PRO14 Rugby signed

3700-803: The new season as defending champions, and for the second season reached the PRO14 final. Leinster , however, won the final at the Aviva Stadium to take their fifth title in the competition's various iterations, and seal a domestic league and European Cup double, only the sixth team to do so, and the first from the PRO14 Championship. Location of South African teams: The fourteen teams will be split into two conferences of seven teams, with each conference featuring two teams from Ireland and Wales plus one team from Italy, Scotland and South Africa. The regular season will be made up of 21 rounds – The first-placed team in each conference are given

3774-514: The normal round dates. All games scheduled to be held in the United Kingdom and Italy were postponed over 28 February and 1 March due to a cold weather wave resulting in sub-zero temperatures , and potential inability for air travel. The Scarlets–Leinster match was moved to the following weekend, being played on 9 March, whilst the Edinburgh–Munster and Cardiff Blues–Benetton games were rescheduled to 16 March. The Ulster–Glasgow Warriors game

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3848-556: The opposite, a 'two city club' system which maps over previous regional teams. The Celtic League board met in November 2008 to explore the possibility of Italian participation; the chief executive of the Welsh Rugby Union , Roger Lewis, stated that the league was looking "favourably" on Italian participation. Following a 19 December 2008 board meeting of the Italian Rugby Federation (FIR) to discuss proposals to improve Italian rugby, FIR announced that it would submit

3922-410: The other teams in their pool twice (home and away) and each team from the other pools once (either home or away). This ensures that Irish, South African and Welsh teams each play six derby matches. For Italy and Scotland, their respective clubs play their own nations' sides only twice. All teams are sorted in a single league table. This creates an 18-match regular season before the play-offs, essentially

3996-483: The possible expansion of the Pro12. A 24-team Rainbow Cup involving 11 Celtic, 9 South African and 4 Italian teams was announced in 2005, but the idea was abandoned because of financial issues on the European end of the deal and changes in the leadership of the South African Rugby Union (SARU). London Welsh expressed interest in 2006 in joining the Celtic League if promotion and relegation were to be removed from

4070-477: The province and return to South Africa on 31 December 2017, to take over the national team . In the same month coaches Jerry Flannery and Felix Jones extended their contracts with the province by two years, expanding their roles to forwards coach, and backline and attack coach respectively. Team manager Niall O'Donovan also signed a new three-year contract. Johann van Graan , the Springboks forwards coach,

4144-410: The province, with Gibbes assuming all coaching responsibility of the team for the remainder of the season. Ahead of the new season, Benetton Treviso changed their name, becoming just Benetton . In July 2017, New Zealand-born flanker Dean Budd was named as team captain replacing Alessandro Zanni . In July 2017, Zebre announced that a new company had been formed, named Zebre Rugby Club , to take

4218-514: The renamed United Rugby Championship the following year, firstly through the transitional Pro14 Rainbow Cup , held in a split tournament format across Europe and South Africa, and then the United Rugby Championship, this time eligible for European competition. Ironically, Cheetahs, no longer in the URC, were invited to join the European competition as well, along with Georgian side, Black Lion . South African team, Stormers, won

4292-399: The rest of the historic teams. Only the four Irish provinces and the original Scottish regions have been ever present (Cardiff Rugby, Scarlets, Ospreys and Dragons have changed their names). Of the fourteen, the nine Welsh clubs and Cheetahs continue to compete in other competitions. Notes: After the successful negotiations with Italy, talks were held intermittently with South Africa about

4366-420: The same nation being protected, and an expanded playoff structure. This allowed the competition to control the calendar, and control the number of games per team. League points are awarded using the bonus points system. Until and including the 2008–09 season, the champions were decided solely on the basis of who finished top of the league table, but since the 2009–10 season, the league champion has been decided by

4440-483: The season was disrupted by the loss of a number of players prior to the confirmation of the side's admission to the competition. Among the players lost was regular captain Lionel Cronje . To fill out the squad, a number of players were signed on loan deals from South African Super Rugby sides. On 28 August, head coach Deon Davids appointed hooker Mike Willemse as the team's captain for their first ever tour in

4514-478: The second Italian place in the Pro14 ahead of the 2017–18 season. This followed an earlier announcement from the Italian Rugby Federation that Zebre intended to withdraw from the league due to major financial complications. However, with the formation of the new company, the club will now remain in Parma . Former Connacht and Edinburgh coach Michael Bradley was appointed as Zebre's new head coach. In addition to

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4588-656: The subsequent renaming to Pro14 ) took place from the 2017–18 season, with two South African teams joining the Championship until the 2019–20 season. The sponsorship deal with Guinness began at the beginning of the 2014–15 season as the Guinness Pro14 , and concluded after the Guinness Pro14 Rainbow Cup in July 2021. Following the rebranding to the United Rugby Championship or the URC for short,

4662-526: The two South African teams was officially confirmed on 1 August 2017. The Southern Kings entered liquidation in September 2020 and therefore withdrew from the league. In September 2020, the league confirmed they were looking for a replacement team for Southern Kings and possible expansion to more teams in South Africa to enter the league in 2021. Later that month, SA rugby voted that their Super Rugby sides ( Lions , Stormers , Sharks , Bulls ) would enter

4736-622: The winner of the play-off between the two fourth-ranked European teams in each conference Yellow background indicates the loser of the play-off between the two fourth-ranked European teams in each conference, that earned a place in the 2018–19 European Rugby Challenge Cup . Plain background indicates teams that earned a place in the 2018–19 European Rugby Challenge Cup. (CH) Champions. (RU) Runners-up. (SF) Losing semi-finalists. (QF) Losing quarter-finalists. (PO) Champions Cup play-off winners. All times are local. These are round 11 and round 12 matches which are scheduled after

4810-559: Was also looking to expand further into Continental Europe by teaming with major association football clubs, some of which already have rugby sections. In August 2016, Pro12 officials began talks with the unions of both Canada and the United States about expansion before the end of the decade, with interest in putting teams on the east coasts of both countries. In September 2016, it emerged that Vancouver and Houston may be target cities, primarily due to weather considerations, though

4884-504: Was also unveiled. This followed the replacement of Kingsley Jones as head coach with Bernard Jackman earlier in the month. In August 2017, South African Hendré Marnitz , then head coach of Currie Cup side Blue Bulls , was confirmed as the Dragons' defence coach for the upcoming season. In the same month, Barry Maddocks was appointed as the Dragons' skills coach. Ospreys came into the season with Steve Tandy as head coach. Tandy

4958-456: Was confirmed, the BBC reported that Celtic Rugby Limited was expected to officially add those teams at the organisation's next board meeting on 18 July. While no announcement came on that date, media in both South Africa and Britain reported that SARU's chief executive was at Celtic Rugby's headquarters in Dublin to finalise the addition of the Cheetahs and Kings, with Reuters calling the expansion "the worst kept secret in rugby". The addition of

5032-440: Was moved to the weekend of 20/21/22 April, whilst the Zebre–Ospreys game was postponed to a yet to be determined date. The top side from each of the two conferences are given a bye to the semi-finals and have home advantage. Teams placed second and third in opposite conferences play each other to determine the other two semi-finalists with the team ranked second having home advantage. The play-offs are scheduled in

5106-666: Was named as the new head coach in September 2017, and started his appointment ahead of Round 9 of the tournament. In February 2017, Ulster announced that New Zealander Jono Gibbes , former Leinster and then- Clermont Auvergne forwards coach, would be joining the province as their new head coach on a two-year contract working under existing director of rugby Les Kiss . It was also announced that former Wales and Lions scrum-half Dwayne Peel had joined as an assistant coach. In June 2017, Ulster added former Leinster hooker and Grenoble coach Aaron Dundon as their Scrum Coach. Kiss left his post on 31 January 2018 by mutual agreement with

5180-457: Was named as the new team captain at the start of the season, replacing the joint captains from the previous season, Grant Gilchrist and Stuart McInally . Bradbury was stripped of his captaincy in October 2017 due to off-field discipline issues, and replaced in the role by Fraser McKenzie . In August 2016, Glasgow Warriors announced that Dave Rennie , then coach of Super Rugby side Chiefs , would replace Gregor Townsend as head coach from

5254-433: Was no longer the case and the top eight teams in the league would qualify for Europe regardless of Shield position. In addition, the winners of the each Shield would be determined by the games played amongst the teams within their regional group, reaffirming its status as a specifically national championship. The league has used a play-off structure since the 2009–10 season to determine the champions, similar to that used in

5328-704: Was promoted to backs coach, leaving his post as head coach of the Ireland under-20s to take the role. In May 2017, Peter Wilkins joined from Edinburgh as defence coach. In March 2017, Leinster confirmed that all four of their current coaches had extended their terms with the province. Head coach Leo Cullen , senior coach Stuart Lancaster , backs coach Girvan Dempsey and scrum coach John Fogarty signed contracts to take them through to summer 2019. In June 2017, after many weeks of media speculation, Munster confirmed that director of rugby Rassie Erasmus and defence coach Jacques Nienaber would leave their roles with

5402-529: Was referred to as the Magner's League . At the start of the 2010–11 season, the league expanded from 10 to 12 teams, adding two Italian teams. Following the end of Magners' sponsorship, the league was sponsored by RaboDirect from 2011–12 through to 2013–14 . The Pro12 name was adopted in 2011 to reflect that the league now included teams from outside the Celtic nations . A further expansion to 14 teams (and

5476-468: Was sacked in January 2018, following a poor run of results in the league and in Europe. The team's forwards coach, former Ulster and Ireland player Allen Clarke , was named as his replacement on an interim basis for the remainder of the season. Champions Scarlets came into the season largely unchanged. Their most significant loss was Wales and Lions fullback Liam Williams , who joined Saracens in

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