2016–17 Pro12

2016–17 Pro12
Countries Ireland Ireland
 Italy
 Scotland
 Wales
Matches played 58
Attendance 446,006 (average 7,690 per match)
Highest attendance 40,527 Leinster v Munster (8 October 2016)
Lowest attendance 1,500 Zebre v Leinster (4 November 2016)
Top point scorer Wales Sam Davies (Ospreys)
42 points
Top try scorer Scotland Tommy Seymour (Glasgow Warriors)
7 tries
Official website
www.pro12rugby.com
2017–18 →

The 2016–17 Pro12 (also known as the Guinness Pro12 for sponsorship reasons) is the sixteenth season of the professional rugby union competition originally known as the Celtic League, and the seventh with its current four-country format. It is the third season to be referred to as the Guinness Pro12.[1][2]

The twelve competing teams are the four Irish teams: Connacht, Leinster, Munster and Ulster; two Italian teams: Treviso and Zebre; two Scottish teams: Edinburgh and Glasgow Warriors and four Welsh teams: Cardiff Blues, Newport Gwent Dragons, Ospreys and Scarlets. The first stage involves the 12 teams playing home and away in a league format with the top four sides qualifying for the semi-finals. The semi-finals will be one-off matches with 1st playing 4th and 2nd playing 3rd, with the higher ranked team receiving home advantage. The winners of the semi-finals will proceed to the Pro 12 final which will be played at the Aviva Stadium on 27 May 2017.[3]

Teams

Team Coach /
Director of Rugby		 Captain Stadium Capacity
Italy Benetton Treviso New Zealand Kieran Crowley Italy Alessandro Zanni Stadio Comunale di Monigo 6,700
Wales Cardiff Blues England Danny Wilson Wales Gethin Jenkins BT Sport Cardiff Arms Park 12,125
Ireland Connacht Samoa Pat Lam Ireland John Muldoon Galway Sportsgrounds 8,100
Scotland Edinburgh Scotland Duncan Hodge
(For South Africa Alan Solomons)[lower-alpha 1]		 Scotland Grant Gilchrist
Scotland Stuart McInally		 Murrayfield Stadium
Myreside[lower-alpha 2]		 12,464[lower-alpha 3]
6,000
Scotland Glasgow Warriors Scotland Gregor Townsend Scotland Jonny Gray
Scotland Henry Pyrgos		 Scotstoun Stadium 10,000
Ireland Leinster Ireland Leo Cullen Fiji Isa Nacewa RDS Arena
Aviva Stadium		 18,500
51,700
Ireland Munster South Africa Rassie Erasmus Ireland Peter O'Mahony Thomond Park
Irish Independent Park		 25,600
9,500
Wales Newport Gwent Dragons Wales Kingsley Jones Wales T. Rhys Thomas Rodney Parade 8,500
Wales Ospreys Wales Steve Tandy Wales Alun Wyn Jones Liberty Stadium 20,827
Wales Scarlets New Zealand Wayne Pivac Wales Ken Owens Parc y Scarlets 14,870
Ireland Ulster Australia Les Kiss Ireland Rob Herring
Ireland Andrew Trimble		 Kingspan Stadium 18,196
Italy Zebre Italy Gianluca Guidi Italy George Biagi Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi 5,000

Changes for the season

Ireland

Reigning champions Connacht started the season with a new coaching ticket. Backs and kicking coach Andre Bell left his role to return to his family in New Zealand.[6] Head performance analyst and assistant attack coach Conor McPhillips takes over coaching of the backs, while the team's former head coach Eric Elwood takes over coaching kicking.[7] The close season also saw the departure of the side's all-time record try-scorer Fionn Carr who scored 42 tries over two spells with the province.[8] Connacht's homeground, the Galway Sportsground underwent renovations during the summer, with the addition of a seated stand increasing its capacity to 8,100.[9]

Beaten finalists Leinster also saw changes to their backroom staff, with defence coach Kurt McQuilkin leaving the role for personal reasons in August 2016.[10] Former England head coach Stuart Lancaster joined the province in the role of "senior coach" the following month as McQuilkin's replacement.[11] Leinster also hired World Cup winning former New Zealand head coach Graham Henry as a consultant coach during the off-season.[12] After taking over the captaincy when Kevin McLaughlin was forced to retire, Isa Nacewa was appointed as team captain on a permanent basis ahead of the season opener.[13]

After finishing sixth in the previous season, Munster replaced much of the their coaching staff. Johan "Rassie" Erasmus joins as Director of Rugby from his role as high performance manager with South Africa, while Jacques Nienaber is the new defence coach. Head coach Anthony Foley remained part of the coaching team, but would now focus on lineouts and the breakdown.[14] After CJ Stander deputised as captain for the previous season, Munster announced ahead of the season that Peter O'Mahony would reassume the role when he returned from injury.[15] On 16 October 2016, Anthony Foley died suddenly in the Munster team hotel in Paris while on an away trip to play Racing 92 in the European Champions Cup.[16][17]

Ulster announced in August 2016 that Rory Best was vacating the captaincy of the province. The Ireland captain was replaced in his role by Andrew Trimble, the team's record try-scorer, and Rob Herring, who took on the role in Best's absence the previous season.[18][19]

Italy

After sacking head coach Umberto Casellato during the course of the previous season, Benetton Treviso hired former Canada head coach Kieran Crowley as his replacement.[20] Marius Goosen, who served as coach following Casellato's dismissal, stays with the side as Director of Rugby, the role he held before replacing Casellato.[21]

After finishing ahead of Treviso in the previous season, Zebre will play in top level European competition for the first time since the tournament format was changed at the end of the 2013–14 season.[22] Zebre had the highest amount of changes to their squad in the competition with a total of 29 players either joining or departing the first team.[23]

Scotland

After discussions of a possible move from Murrayfield to Easter Road in 2015 didn't come to fruition,[24][25] it was announced in May 2016 that Edinburgh had agreed a partnership with George Watson's College and would play their home fixtures at the school's 6,000 capacity Myreside venue in the second half of the season. The team will have the option of returning to Murrayfield for larger games. Edinburgh had previously used the ground as a home in its early years as a professional side and played a home match there as recently as the 2015 Six Nations Championship.[26][27] The off-season saw the loss of team captain Mike Coman, who left to join London Irish.[28] With his departure, Grant Gilchrist and Stuart McInally took on the role in a joint capacity.[29] On 28 September 2016, just four games into the season, Alan Solomons resigned as the team's head coach.[30] The departure saw assistant coach Duncan Hodge promoted to acting head coach.[31]

This season will be Gregor Townsend's last in charge of Glasgow Warriors as he will depart at the end of the year to take up the role of Scotland head coach.[32] After serving as the team's sole captain in 2015–16, Jonny Gray will share the role with Henry Pyrgos for the coming season.[33] Following issues with the playing surface at the team's home stadium, Scotstoun, an artificial playing surface was installed at the ground.[34][35]

Table

2016–17 Pro12
Team Played Won Drawn Lost Points for Points against Points diff Tries for Tries against Try bonus Losing bonus Points
1 Ireland Munster 10 8 0 2 267 129 +138 34 15 4 1 37
2 Ireland Leinster 10 8 0 2 264 183 +81 34 24 4 1 37
2 Wales Ospreys 10 7 0 3 315 167 +148 45 21 7 1 36
4 Wales Scarlets 10 7 0 3 222 174 +48 28 19 4 0 32
5 Ireland Ulster 9 6 0 3 192 146 +46 25 18 2 2 28
6 Scotland Glasgow Warriors 10 5 0 5 223 199 +24 30 24 4 3 27
7 Wales Cardiff Blues 10 5 0 5 219 248 −29 25 30 1 1 22
8 Ireland Connacht 9 4 0 5 176 190 −14 22 23 3 1 20
9 Wales Newport Gwent Dragons 10 3 0 7 170 237 −67 19 29 1 2 15
10 Scotland Edinburgh 10 3 0 7 213 236 −23 28 28 1 1 14
11 Italy Zebre 8 1 0 7 118 253 −135 12 35 0 4 8
12 Italy Benetton Treviso 10 1 0 9 125 342 −217 14 48 1 1 6
If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:[36]
  1. number of matches won;
  2. the difference between points for and points against;
  3. the number of tries scored;
  4. the most points scored;
  5. the difference between tries for and tries against;
  6. the fewest number of red cards received;
    7.
  7. the fewest number of yellow cards received.

Green background (rows 1 to 4) are play-off places, and earn a place in the 2017–18 European Rugby Champions Cup.
Blue background indicates teams outside the play-off places, that earn a place in the European Rugby Champions Cup.

    Rounds 1 to 22

    All times are local.

    Round 1

    Round 2

    Round 3

    After 40 minutes of play, the match was "abandoned due to adverse weather conditions causing considerable risk to both the players and spectators". Zebre were leading 22–10 (3 tries to 1) when the match was abandoned. A rescheduled fixture "will be announced in due course."[37]

    Round 4

    Round 5

    Round 6

    Round 7

    Round 8

    Round 9

    Postponed prior to kickoff due to frozen pitch.[38]

    Round 10

    Round 11

    Round 12

    Round 13

    Round 14

    Round 15

    Round 16

    Round 17

    Round 18

    Round 19

    Round 20

    Judgement Day

    Round 21

    Round 22

    Play-offs

    Semi-finals

    Final

    27 May 2017
    TBD v TBD

    Attendances

    By club

    Club Home
    Games    		 Total Average Highest Lowest % Capacity
    Italy Benetton Treviso 4 12,306 3,077 3,500 2,800
    Wales Cardiff Blues 5 37,236 7,447 9,442 4,807
    Ireland Connacht 6 35,870 5,978 6,194 5,749
    Scotland Edinburgh 5 16,219 3,244 3,556 2,750
    Scotland Glasgow Warriors 5 36,550 7,310 7,531 7,166
    Ireland Leinster 5 94,280 18,856 40,527 10,979
    Ireland Munster 5 52,172 10,434 12,826 7,405
    Wales Newport Gwent Dragons 5 21,690 4,338 4,809 3,841
    Wales Ospreys 5 40,916 8,183 10,860 6,509
    Wales Scarlets 5 30,318 6,064 6,358 5,630
    Ireland Ulster 4 60,848 15,212 17,629 13,663
    Italy Zebre 4 7,601 1,900 2,100 1,500

    Leading scorers

    Note: Flags to the left of player names indicate national team as has been defined under World Rugby eligibility rules, or primary nationality for players who have not yet earned international senior caps. Players may hold one or more non-WR nationalities.

    Notes

    1. ↑ Alan Solomons began the tournament as Edinburgh head coach, but stood down on 28 September 2016, and replaced by Duncan Hodge.[4]
    2. ↑ On 10 May 2016, it was announced that Edinburgh will move all their home games to Myreside for the second half of the season, as their new permanent home ground.[5]
    3. ↑ Although Murrayfield's full capacity is 67,800, only the lower section of the West Stand, with a capacity of 12,464, is generally opened for Edinburgh fixtures.

    References

    1. ↑ "RaboDirect to pull sponsorship of Pro12". The Score. 23 August 2013. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 5 June 2014.
    2. ↑ "Pro12: Guinness named as league's new sponsor". BBC. 10 July 2014. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
    3. ↑ "Confirmed: Next year's Pro12 final is coming to Dublin". Irish Independent. 23 August 2016. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
    4. ↑ "Hodge appointed Acting Head Coach as Solomons steps down". Edinburgh Rugby. 28 September 2016. Retrieved 28 September 2016.
    5. ↑ "Edinburgh confirm move from Murrayfield to Myreside". BBC Sport. 10 May 2016. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
    6. ↑ "My job in Connacht: Andre Bell, Backs & kicking coach". Irish Independent. 6 February 2015. Retrieved 5 September 2016.
    7. ↑ "Connacht suffer major blow as backs coach Bell opts to return to New Zealand". Irish Independent. 9 June 2016. Retrieved 5 September 2016.
    8. ↑ "Carr and Muldowney among players leaving Connacht at end of season". The42. 4 April 2016. Retrieved 5 September 2016.
    9. ↑ "A new seated stand is in place at the Sportsground for Connacht's upcoming season". The42. 31 August 2016. Retrieved 7 September 2016.
    10. ↑ "Kurt McQuilkin to Leave Leinster Rugby". Leinster Rugby. 17 August 2016. Retrieved 7 September 2016.
    11. ↑ "Stuart Lancaster joins Leinster coaching team". RTÉ Sport. 5 September 2016. Retrieved 7 September 2016.
    12. ↑ "Leinster's Graham Henry: 'If you always say 'how can we score from here?' That's a good mentality'". The42. 2 August 2016. Retrieved 7 September 2016.
    13. ↑ "Isa Nacewa continues as Leinster captain for new season". RTÉ Sport. 16 August 2016. Retrieved 7 September 2016.
    14. ↑ "Rassie Erasmus adds Jacques Nienaber to Munster coaching ticket". Irish Examiner. 12 June 2016. Retrieved 7 September 2016.
    15. ↑ "Erasmus confirms O'Mahony will continue as Munster captain". The42. 8 August 2016. Retrieved 7 September 2016.
    16. ↑ "Statement On The Sudden Passing Of Anthony Foley". munsterrugby.ie. 16 October 2016. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
    17. ↑ "Anthony Foley: Munster rugby coach dies suddenly in Paris". BBC Sport. BBC. 16 October 2016. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
    18. ↑ "Rob Herring and Andrew Trimble to share Ulster captaincy". BBC Sport. 17 August 2016. Retrieved 7 September 2016.
    19. ↑ "Rob Herring named as Ulster captain during World Cup". Ulster Rugby. Retrieved 7 September 2016.
    20. ↑ "Kieran Crowley to coach Italian side Treviso from next season". Sky Sports. 13 January 2016. Retrieved 13 September 2016.
    21. ↑ "Champions Cup Draw - What The Opposition Say". Munster Rugby. 18 June 2015. Retrieved 13 September 2016. Treviso's Sporting Director Antonio Pavanello also spoke after yesterday's event in Switzerland [...] Director of Rugby Marius Goosen added
    22. ↑ "Zebre qualify for European Champions Cup with win over Newport Gwent Dragons". Belfast Telegraph. 7 May 2016. Retrieved 13 September 2016.
    23. ↑ "PRO12 season preview: Edinburgh, Glasgow, Treviso and Zebre". Sky Sports. 30 August 2016. Retrieved 13 September 2016.
    24. ↑ "Edinburgh Rugby bid for permanent Easter Road move". The Scotsman. 8 June 2015. Retrieved 18 October 2016.
    25. ↑ "Edinburgh Rugby eye Easter Road". Edinburgh Evening News. 8 June 2015. Retrieved 18 October 2016.
    26. ↑ "Edinburgh Rugby to play home matches at Myreside next season". Edinburgh Rugby. 10 May 2016. Retrieved 18 October 2016.
    27. ↑ "Out of the echo chamber, into the Myre': Edinburgh to move out of Murrayfield next season". The42. 10 May 2016. Retrieved 18 October 2016.
    28. ↑ "Mike Coman: London Irish sign Edinburgh captain". BBC Sport. 1 February 2016. Retrieved 18 October 2016.
    29. ↑ "Stuart McInally and Grant Gilchrist to share Edinburgh captaincy". Sky Sports. 23 August 2016. Retrieved 18 October 2016.
    30. ↑ "Alan Solomons walks away from Edinburgh". RTÉ News. 28 September 2016. Retrieved 18 October 2016.
    31. ↑ "Hodge appointed Acting Head Coach as Solomons steps down". Scottish Rugby Union. 28 September 2016. Retrieved 18 October 2016.
    32. ↑ "Gregor Townsend to become Scotland Head Coach in June 2017". Scottish Rugby Union. 17 August 2016. Retrieved 18 October 2016.
    33. ↑ "Glasgow Warriors: Jonny Gray & Henry Pyrgos to be co-captains this season". BBC Sport. 9 August 2016. Retrieved 18 October 2016.
    34. ↑ "Glasgow Warriors artificial pitch approved at Scotstoun home". BBC Sport. 9 June 2016. Retrieved 18 October 2016.
    35. ↑ "Scotstoun's artificial pitch is ready for action!". Glasgow Warriors. 8 September 2016. Retrieved 18 October 2016.
    36. ↑ Competition Rule 3.5 "Summary of Key Rules". Pro12. Retrieved 13 November 2013.
    37. ↑ "Statement on abandoned game between Zebre Rugby and Connacht Rugby". Pro 12 Rugby. 17 September 2016.
    38. ↑ "Ulster Rugby v Zebre Rugby Postponed". Pro 12 Rugby. 25 November 2016.

    External links

    This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 12/4/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.