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PRO 14 (Or How To Split The Welsh Regions)

GarethGriffiths

Academy Player
Joined
Jul 8, 2017
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491
First off, apologies if this has been posted elsewhere:

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugby-news/welsh-derbies-slashed-new-guinness-13338684

Secondly, which plonker conceived this idea?

I don't mind the addition of two teams, but South African sides?

If two new sides are needed, how's about the following:

North Wales Crusaders - basically RGC1404 and playing at Parc Eirias

Scottish Highlanders - a new side playing at Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC. A friend of mine is a Caley fan and says that following their relegation to the Scottish Championship they need extra investment.

No other team uses their ground, so it should be easy enough to schedule games around Inverness Caledonian Thistle games.

These new sides would help benefit rugby in their area and also give budding stars of the future the chance to shine.

Just my 2p worth.
 
There is only speculation at the moment about format. One suggestion that came from what I'd consider a better source is that Glasgow and Edinburgh will be in the same group. So they will play each other twice, but will also play a third time as part of a plan to increase local derbies.

I'd imagine something similar will happen for the Welsh. For example, you play the other Welsh side in your group twice, the Welsh in the other group twice and the non-Welsh sides in the other group just once. Then you can still have your Judgemet Days which I'm sure they'll be very keen to preserve.

That would be 12 + 4 + 5 = 21 games. Plus playoffs. Again, just speculation at this stage.

The Scottish union is pretty much penniless and has utterly failed to really even attempt to penetrate any Scottish cities outside of Edinburgh and Glasgow. They are doing alright in Stirling and Ayrshire but neither area / town is big enough for a club in my opinion.
 
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/40649652

Looks like the changes have been agreed.

Will just have to see how things develop, I guess.

I wasn't aware of the poor financial state of the SRU, bit of a shock there after further reading. I know that Scotland have played games in Aberdeen and Kilmarnock - I wonder if a South Scotland/Borders team could play out of the aptly named 'Rugby Park' one day, if there's not enough scope for a Highlands team (which I would favour, in order to attract rugby fans from the 'Central Belt', Grampians and Highlands. It would certainly help develop the game in these areas and it would be a good outlet for good youngsters in the Perth, Aberdeen, Inverness, Brora, Wick, Thurso etc. areas).
 

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