Pro 14 - General Thread

[johng]

It says ours is the 9th. This day week

[brenno]

Scarlets match - 7.35, Friday 9th - Sky Sports 2

[Oldschool]

2 games left this weekend.

Connacht have a hard game in Bloemfontein. Only Glasgow have won there so far.

Kings must think they have a shot v the Dragons. The Welsh side have lost all their away games so far and last win was in Sept v the Kings.

Wonder will either of these games be on the box given all the other games have been cancelled.

[neill_m]

2 games left this weekend.

Connacht have a hard game in Bloemfontein. Only Glasgow have won there so far.

Kings must think they have a shot v the Dragons. The Welsh side have lost all their away games so far and last win was in Sept v the Kings.

Wonder will either of these games be on the box given all the other games have been cancelled.

Cheetahs v Connacht was already scheduled on Sky Sports. Kings v Dragons - live stream on Pro 14 Facebook/Youtube Accounts

[blockhead]

Kings going for their first win in the Pro14.
31-13 v the Dragons, TBP, 50mins gone.

[neill_m]

45-13 FT

Good for the Kings

[Ruckedtobits]

45-13 FT

Good for the Kings

Shows they're learning from their games up here.

[blockhead]

Dragons are bad and getting worse. Jackman may not make it as far as next season at this rate.

[cormac]

45-13 FT

Good for the Kings

Shows they're learning from their games up here.

I suspect it mostly shows just how bad the Dragons are. They haven't won since September.

[simonokeeffe]

Dragons are bad and getting worse. Jackman may not make it as far as next season at this rate.

Well theres always the Ulster job

[blockhead]

Cracking game down in SA. Cheetahs 16-15 Connacht at HT. Off-Load heaven.

[johng]

Connacht stretched their lead to 25 16. But the cheetahs came roaring back and now there is 2 in it with 15 to go.

Altitude says connacht are going dahn. But are they?

[johng]

5 to go connacht 2 ahead still

[johng]

Connacht lose with the last kick

[Oldschool]

Connacht lose with the last kick

Missed the last 15 mins but felt the ref wasn't giving them much. Let a lot go which wouldn't be to Connacht's advantage at altitude.

[simonokeeffe]

Altitude definitely got to them but they were getting surprisingly massacred in the scrums and kept giving away the same penalty in the maul

[Ruckedtobits]

Altitude definitely got to them but they were getting surprisingly massacred in the scrums and kept giving away the same penalty in the maul

Disagree slightly re scrums@sok. They started badly and were murdered in two. Then ref Berry (a World Rugby top ten Ref), pulled Cheetah's LHP for angling in on Bealham and they did fine against a big pack - this is SA after all. They then had quality ball from possibly ten scrums, including both of Healy's tries.

When Bealham was replaced with about 20 to go with a rib injury, Keane did not replace McCartney and Buckley, both of whom were kn#@kered. McCartney went with 5 mins to go by which point Connacht, led by Muldoon, were doing their best impression of an old Young Munster pack - scrums going down on contact, followed by cramp leading to injury etc. One scrum took 2 minutes to complete, another more than 90 secs. Connacht were ahead, in Cheetahs half, with the put-in, but had stopped trying to score.

Certainly one of the line-out penalties against them at the death was harsh. But overall, I'd blame Keane for not replacing entire front-row about 15 minutes from time. Connacht played very well overall in tough conditions for March. I hope they make Play-offs, as they are now good enough to deserve it.

But looking for excuses re referee is not the outlook which will get them success.

[simonokeeffe]

Mallinder has said no to Cardiff apparently, and Edinburgh have signed Socino from Newcastle for next season, only downside (from Scottish POV) is they look like having f all Scots in their backline

[neill_m]

BBC fails to reach Pro14 rugby TV deal

By Huw ThomasBBC Wales arts and media correspondent

Live coverage of regional rugby will not be shown on BBC Two Wales next season after the BBC failed to reach a deal to continue broadcasting the Pro14 tournament.
Competition organisers are understood to have awarded the UK rights to a pay-TV service, but BBC Wales had hoped to continue broadcasting games in Wales.
It means viewers will no longer be able to watch regional games on free-to-air television in English. Negotiations over Welsh language rights are ongoing.
In a statement, BBC Wales said it was disappointed.
"We're proud of our record of covering live Pro14 rugby across television, radio and online and we offered a significantly increased financial bid in order to safeguard these rights on a free-to-air basis for hundreds of thousands of viewers in Wales, and across the UK," it said.
"We know there will be a real disappointment at this outcome among hundreds of thousands of rugby fans who have enjoyed live free-to-air coverage on the BBC over many years."
The broadcaster said it hoped to be able to continue to offer TV highlights on a Sunday evening and would be seeking discussions with tournament organisers.
Meanwhile S4C added: "We cannot comment on ongoing commercial negotiations."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-43302261

Suggests the live English language games will be on Premier Sports in the UK and Eir Sports in Ireland with the likes of ALBA, S4C and TG4 showing the odd game live.

[simonokeeffe]

Probably not good overall for the league