Pro 14 - General Thread

[blockhead]

Will they ever give SA the pro14 final?

[neill_m]

Clayton Blomnetjies and Tom Botha of the Cheetahs heading north to the Scarlets and the Ospreys.

[neill_m]

Will they ever give SA the pro14 final?

Suspect it will be Cardiff next season. Would somewhere like Milan be next in line after that?

The crowd attendances in SA do seem quite low.

[Dave Cahill]

The WRU haven't show much interest, they haven't bid for the last couple of finals.

[Xanthippe]

Will they ever give SA the pro14 final?

Suspect it will be Cardiff next season. Would somewhere like Milan be next in line after that?

The crowd attendances in SA do seem quite low.

There is no ‘next in line’ though. The unions are invited to ‘bid/apply’’ for the final and as far as I’m aware this year the IRFU were the only applicant

[neill_m]

Will they ever give SA the pro14 final?

Suspect it will be Cardiff next season. Would somewhere like Milan be next in line after that?

The crowd attendances in SA do seem quite low.

There is no ‘next in line’ though. The unions are invited to ‘bid/apply’’ for the final and as far as I’m aware this year the IRFU were the only applicant

I know it’s up to the individual union to bid. I read somewhere the WRU didn’t bid for this season as the MS was not available.

This is the 4th year of this system. Dublin x 2, Belfast and Edinburgh. Interesting to see if others outside of IRFU/SRU apply for 18/19.

[blockhead]

Scarlets, with all regular home game completed, ended the season with and attendance average of 10K+, about 30% more than last season. Next season tickets sales are through the roof.
Nothing succeeds like success.

[blockhead]

Jaysus, the Cardiff boys did well at the weekend considering this ...

But Leinster’s travelling difficulties were as nothing compared to the horrific trek which the Cardiff Blues squad and their support staff underwent last week in readiness for the first game of their mini tour against the Cheetahs. They finally touched down in Bloemfontein after a nightmare 55-hour journey from the UK ahead of their encounter with the Cheetahs last Saturday.

The squad were originally due to fly out to Johannesburg from Heathrow at 9pm on Wednesday night, and then get a connecting flight to Bloemfontein. But their flight out of Heathrow was delayed first by an hour, and then by a further 20 hours.

After spending the night in a Heathrow hotel, they eventually flew at 5pm on Thursday, but this meant they missed their connecting flight to Bloemfontein. A fresh connection was arranged for early on Friday morning, only for them to suffer a further three-hour delay due to a faulty radar, obliging them to disembark their plane and spend more than two hours in the terminal, then back onto a bus and then around 40 minutes on the plane on the runway due to further delays.

They eventually arrived just over 20 hours before the scheduled 2pm kick-off (BST) at the Toyota Stadium on Saturday, and so the game was pushed back to 5.15pm. Even on arrival, they discovered that their kit bags had not landed with them.

GT

[Peg Leg]

BSPORT video titled best teams in the world right now includes 1 prem and 3 p14.

Our highlights at #3 are pretty cool.

https://youtu.be/qMFnp-qQ4oI

[Ruckedtobits]

BSPORT video titled best teams in the world right now includes 1 prem and 3 p14.

Our highlights at #3 are pretty cool.

https://youtu.be/qMFnp-qQ4oI

Not sure who BSPORT are but they clearly don't have rights to French rugby. The exclusion of Scarlets from the ten is also a surprise - either based currently or over the past 12 months. Certainly some nice highlights but also fair evidence that NZ teams score a lot of tries from 40-60 metres with significant offloading after the tackle.

[blockhead]

If we get a semi V Munster at home, would/could it be played in the Aviva?

[olaf the fat]

Scarlets, with all regular home game completed, ended the season with and attendance average of 10K+, about 30% more than last season. Next season tickets sales are through the roof.
Nothing succeeds like success.

Its great to see Scarlets do well, it'd be a big boost for the league if they maintain the standards.

[kermischocolate]

Scarlets, with all regular home game completed, ended the season with and attendance average of 10K+, about 30% more than last season. Next season tickets sales are through the roof.
Nothing succeeds like success.

Its great to see Scarlets do well, it'd be a big boost for the league if they maintain the standards.

Very much so.

I think Glasgow would be able to do similar except for the teeny technical problem of a lack of suitable stadium. It's hugely frustrating.

[dropkick]

What are the options for Glasgow? Expand their stadium? I see 2000 people turned out to watch them train the other day. It wasn't too long ago when that was their average attendance!


But its a good problem to have. They have not been in scotstun that long. Finding suitable stadiums in big cities can be tricky because of the price of real estate. Wasps and London Irish left London.


Leinster left Donnybrook despite millions of euro being pumped into it. Could Glasgow share a nearby soccer stadium?

[Dave Cahill]

They did that before, it wasn't particularly successful

[kermischocolate]

What are the options for Glasgow? Expand their stadium? I see 2000 people turned out to watch them train the other day. It wasn't too long ago when that was their average attendance!


But its a good problem to have. They have not been in scotstun that long. Finding suitable stadiums in big cities can be tricky because of the price of real estate. Wasps and London Irish left London.


Leinster left Donnybrook despite millions of euro being pumped into it. Could Glasgow share a nearby soccer stadium?

There are no realistic options.
There's nowhere to move to.

Can't expand Scotstoun (no room for permanent stands and the local residents would block it even if there was). Even to have it at 10k like it was for the 7s a couple of years ago is blocked by athletics-currently no stand is allowed to cover the track.

No suitable size stadium available in Glasgow.
Nearest is Kilmarnock (30 odd miles away) where we went a couple of years ago for our last European group game that season. We were already out of the competition but still had very 8k (Scotstoun capacity is 7350).

We're not going back to Firhill for many reasons, not least it's too small.

Unless there's a billionaire willing to build a new stadium we're stuck.

[outcast eddie]

No suitable size stadium available in Glasgow.
Nearest is Kilmarnock (30 odd miles away) where we went a couple of years ago for our last European group game that season. We were already out of the competition but still had very 8k (Scotstoun capacity is 7350).

We're not going back to Firhill for many reasons, not least it's too small.

Unless there's a billionaire willing to build a new stadium we're stuck.[/quote]

This a poor state of affairs considering Glasgow's recent (excellent) hosting of the Commonwealth Games and the commitment to create extra sporting venues that came with it. Such a shame that so many sports have top level venues within the city and Rugby looses out. Could be worse tho, look at Bath'.

[kermischocolate]

No suitable size stadium available in Glasgow.
Nearest is Kilmarnock (30 odd miles away) where we went a couple of years ago for our last European group game that season. We were already out of the competition but still had very 8k (Scotstoun capacity is 7350).

We're not going back to Firhill for many reasons, not least it's too small.

Unless there's a billionaire willing to build a new stadium we're stuck.

This a poor state of affairs considering Glasgow's recent (excellent) hosting of the Commonwealth Games and the commitment to create extra sporting venues that came with it. Such a shame that so many sports have top level venues within the city and Rugby looses out. Could be worse tho, look at Bath'.[/quote]

And there has been massive amounts of sporting infrastructure put in place - velodrome, 50m swimming pool, all purpose arena etc.

Someone with vision would look a bit further down the line and create a 15-20k multisport stadium. Target rugby and women's sport/ u21 football etc. Things that Hampden is too big for.

Where are all the visionaries when you need them?!

[neill_m]

Edinburgh BP in 24 mins v Scarlets 3s


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[blockhead]

Scarlets could end up with an away qf if their not careful.