LEINSTER HEAD COACH Leo Cullen says he’s excited by the prospect of his side competing in the revamped Pro14, which will now include former Super Rugby outfits the Cheetahs and the Kings.
The expansion was confirmed by Celtic Rugby this morning but had been mooted for most of the summer, and speaking at Leinster’s open pre-season training session at Arklow RFC, an excited Cullen admitted he’d been keeping an eye on the league’s new South African recruits long in advance of the official announcement.
“We’re unbelievably excited by it. We’ve followed the two teams with a lot of interest over the last couple of weeks having an idea that this was coming down the line.
“Some very exciting trips ahead to South Africa, and I think the players will be able to test themselves in a different environment. I think it’s great for the game. I think those teams will really progress as well in the tournament, and it’s a great challenge for our guys.
There’s going to be a lot of challenges trying to get up to speed with the competition, even the two conferences. I’m sure there’ll be a few teething problems that will have to be ironed out in terms of the logistics of the competition, but overall I think it’s a hugely exciting prospect, two quality teams – I’ve watched a lot of the Cheetahs and the Kings.
The new competition will be divided into two conferences, with Leinster sitting in Conference B alongside the Scarlets, the Dragons, Ulster, Edinburgh, Treviso and the Kings. Though Munster and Connacht are in the opposite conference, Leinster will still face their cross-country rivals both at home and away this season.
“It can be a little bit confusing I think, but we clearly know we have everyone home and away in our own conference, so that’s our 12 games,” Cullen said.
“And we’ll play the other Irish teams in the opposite conference home and away as well, so that’s as it’s always been over the last number of years. And then you’ve the other five teams which you can play either at home or away. 21 games, it’s one less, and you’ll get matched up in terms of points with who’s in your own conference.
It’s a little bit different, it’ll get the calculators out and some of the mathematicians in our group out as well. Even though we’re going to playing against the other teams in the other conference, we’re going to be in a ladder, I suppose, with the teams in our own group.
“It’ll take a little bit of getting used to, but it’s a similar format in many ways.”
Cullen then addressed Leinster’s pre-season to date, with fixtures scheduled against Perpignan, Gloucester and Bath in the coming weeks.
The latter two will take place on home soil, but Cullen’s young guns will first return to action at Aimé Giral Stadium on 11 August.
“We had an early group back on the 19th of June, and guys have been filtering back from that date. We’ll have a relatively young group that will go to Perpignan next week. I think it’s going to be a great experience for them. To travel to the south of France is an important part of any player’s career.
“During this time of year, a lot of senior coaches get to work with a lot of our younger academy players and try and accelerate their development. You saw a lot of guys came through during the course of last season, so hopefully we’ll have a little bit more of that.”
“After Perpignan we’re up in St. Mary’s in Templeogue for our game against Gloucester. We played Gloucester last year in Tallaght, so again I think it’s great to be out and about in the province as much as we possibly can.”
The42 is on Instagram! Tap the button below on your phone to follow us!
I am actually visibly shaking at the prospect of a new and improved Guinness PRO14 tournament. People who discredit it don’t even realize how huge the addition of two well mannered attacking SA teams adds a whole new dimension to a competition that has had its supporters baying for new expansive rugby.
There can also be no doubt that this will turn the heads of other clubs around the world and ensure the possibility of an ultimate club tournament in the next eon.
Welcome, Cheetahs and Southern Kings, to the family!
@Conor Cahill: alrite lad…calm down!!
@Conor Cahill: you probably said the same about zebre and Treviso or whatever the Italian clubs were called when they joined. Disastrous day for pro club rugby in the Celtic nations. Hopefully something can be salvaged from the wreckage when this goes t.i.t.s up
@Johnny A: http://www.irishrugby.ie/news/20565.php#.WYDSmEHTXYU
Same nonsense excitement when the Italians joined. Aironi – what happened them? Kings could be out of existence after 1st season.
I think this is a fantastic development and will certainly sharpen Irish teams focus having a Southern Hemisphere dynamic. Well done to all Home Unions for having the foresight.
@Brendan T. M. P. Bur: well done to the home unions for forgetting the failed Italian experiment and ignoring all of the issues that geographical expansion has caused in Super Rugby.
@Paul K Murphy: 10 teams from the Celtic nations. Kick the Italians out. Market the hell out of it. Take the rights away from TG4 and work with SKY, RTE, BBC Wales & Scotland. Insist that frontline players are available for big derby matches or face a heavy fine. Let SA, Italy and USA paddle their own canoe.
Unfortunately they panicked and let in the two worst teams in South Africa which will keep people’s interest for about 10 minutes.
Does this make a difference to the qualifying for the European cup??
@Christopher Mulcahy: the SA teams won’t qualify this year. Top 3 from each conference are automatic with the best place 7th taking the last spot. The way I read it is that the South Africa will not qualify for next season (2018-19)
The Italian situation is a work in progress! Be patient and it’ll come right! Look at Connaught ?!
See what I mean with Mickey Ba being appointed to Zebre on C O’ Shea’s recommendation.