2019–20 Pro14

The 2019–20 PRO14 (also known as the Guinness PRO14 for sponsorship reasons) was the nineteenth season of the professional rugby union competition originally known as the Celtic League. It was the third season to be referred to as the PRO14 (the competition was named the Pro12 immediately prior to the addition of two South African teams).

Fourteen teams competed in this season — four Irish teams: Connacht, Leinster, Munster and Ulster; two Italian teams: Benetton and Zebre; two Scottish teams: Edinburgh and Glasgow Warriors; two South African teams: Cheetahs and the Southern Kings; and four Welsh teams: Cardiff Blues, Dragons, Ospreys and Scarlets.

On 12 March 2020, the season was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It restarted on 22 August in a truncated format.

It was won by Leinster, their third consecutive Pro14 title, and the second occasion on which they had achieved a Perfect season by winning every match - a feat achieved by no other team in the competition's history.

Teams Location of Irish, Scottish and Welsh teams:Location of Italian teams:

Location of South African teams: Conference A; Conference B.

Team Coach /Director of Rugby Captain Stadium/ Stadia Capacity Stadio Comunale di Monigo, Treviso Cardiff Arms Park 12,125 Free State Stadium 48,000 Galway Sportsgrounds Rodney Parade Murrayfield Stadium 67,144 Scotstoun Stadium RDS ArenaAviva Stadium 18,50051,700 Thomond ParkIrish Independent Park 25,6008,008 Liberty Stadium 20,827 Parc y Scarlets 14,870 (interim) Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium 48,459 Kingspan Stadium 18,196 Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi 5,000

Competition format

League Stage

The fourteen teams are split into two conferences of seven teams, with each conference featuring two teams from Ireland and Wales plus one team from Italy, Scotland and South Africa. To ensure a competitive balance, the teams are distributed approximately evenly between the conferences based upon their performance in the previous season.

The regular season was due to be made up of 21 rounds. The original schedule was planned as follows – 6 home and 6 away games against each team in their own conference 7 games, either home or away, against the teams in the other conference 2 additional regional derbies Each Irish team plays the two Irish teams in the other conference, one at home and one away Each Welsh team plays the two Welsh teams in the other conference, one at home and one away The two Italian teams play each other twice, home and away The two Scottish teams play each other twice, home and away The two South African teams play each other twice, home and away

Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic All teams played their normal schedule until round 13 after which an additional two rounds of derby matches were played by the 12 European teams. The Southern Kings announced in August 2020 that they had voluntarily withdrawn from the league for the remainder of 2020 and therefore there will not be South African derbies.

League Play-Offs

The first and second placed teams in each conferences will meet in the semi-finals. The winners of the semi-finals will then meet in the grand final.

Champions Cup Qualification

The top four eligible European teams in both conferences automatically qualify for the 2020–21 European Rugby Champions Cup. (The South African teams do not compete in the Champions Cup.) Qualification is based on league position after round 13.

Team changes

Ireland Connacht underwent a rebranding during the off-season, updating their team crest in the process. During the course of the season, the planned redevelopment of the Sportsground was boosted by the commitment of €20 million from the Irish government.

Leinster's highest profile departure in the off-season was Seán O'Brien, who made over 100 appearances and was the side's former vice-captain. With captain Johnny Sexton and vice-captain Rhys Ruddock missing the start of the season due to the World Cup, Scott Fardy served as team captain in the opening rounds.

Munster's backs coach Felix Jones and forwards coach Jerry Flannery left the province when their contracts expired in June 2019. Former attack coach for the Australian national team, Stephen Larkham, was signed by the province as a senior coach ahead of the season, while Graham Rowntree joined as their new forwards coach after the completion of his duties with Georgia at the World Cup. The team's regular captain, Peter O'Mahony, missed the opening rounds of the tournament due to the World Cup, during which time Billy Holland captained the side.

Long-serving Ulster captain Rory Best announced in April 2019 that he would retire from rugby after the 2019 Rugby World Cup. Iain Henderson replaced Best as captain. With Henderson unavailable in the opening rounds due to the World Cup, the side was captained by Rob Herring. Herring was later called up to the World Cup as an injury replacement, and the captaincy went to Billy Burns.

Italy

Scotland

South Africa

Cheetahs announced in June 2019 that Hawies Fourie had replaced Franco Smith as their head coach.

Wales

Then-Crusaders assistant coach Brad Mooar was confirmed as Wayne Pivac's replacement as Scarlets head coach in December 2018, with Pivac leaving the region to take over from Warren Gatland as Wales' head coach after the 2019 Rugby World Cup. Scarlets also appointed then-Highlanders defence coach and former London Irish head coach Glenn Delaney as their new defence coach, replacing the outgoing Byron Hayward.

Dragons announced the departure of head coach Bernard Jackman in December 2018, with Ceri Jones replacing Jackman on an interim basis for the remainder of the 2018–19 season, before the region confirmed in May 2019 that Dean Ryan would join in the newly created director of rugby position.

Table

Match summary

Conference Rounds 1 to 13 All times are local. Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Round 7

Round 8

1872 Cup 1st round

Round 9

1872 Cup 2nd round

Round 10

Round 8 (South Africa)

Round 9 (South Africa)

Round 11

Postponed due to bad weather. Game to be rescheduled for 6 March 2020.

Round 12

Round 13

Postponed due to coronavirus fears. Awarded as a 0–0 draw

Round 11 (rescheduled game)

Rescheduled from 15 February 2020.

Additional Derby Rounds

Round 14

1872 Cup 3rd round

Round 15

Judgement Day

Play-offs

In a change to the normal format, the top two sides from each of the two conferences met in the two semi-finals to determine the finalists. The quarter-finals featuring the second and third teams in each conference were scrapped for the 2019–20 season.

Semi-finals

Final

Referees

Attendances by club Includes quarter-finals and semi-finals – the final is not included as it is held at a neutral venue. Due to the Conference A & B structure of 21 rounds in the Pro14, some teams played 10 league home games during the league stage, while others played 11. Does not include European Champions Cup play-off game.

ClubHomegamesTotalAverageHighestLowest% Capacity Benetton 6 24,863 4,144 5,000 3,676 62% Cardiff Blues 6 46,202 7,700 12,125 5,190 64% Cheetahs 4 21,756 5,439 7,832 4,528 12% Connacht 6 35,700 5,950 8,129 4,512 73% Dragons 7 28,159 4,023 6,421 1,857 46% Edinburgh 7 58,529 8,361 27,437 4,221 12% Glasgow Warriors 7 47,991 6,856 7,351 6,203 93% Leinster 7 90,431 12,919 18,300 7,967 70% Munster 7 86,880 12,411 26,267 6,854 75% Ospreys 7 34,679 4,954 6,664 2,347 33% Scarlets 7 50,613 7,230 13,682 5,639 49% Southern Kings 5 13,815 2,763 4,316 1,500 6% Ulster 7 96,725 13,818 17,483 10,975 76% Zebre 6 16,100 2,683 4,000 2,000 54%

Highest attendances Date Game Stadium Attendance 28 December 2019 Edinburgh (H) v Glasgow Warriors Murrayfield Stadium 27,437 28 December 2019 Munster (H) v Leinster Thomond Park 26,267 4 January 2020 Leinster (H) v Connacht RDS Arena 18,300 27 December 2019 Ulster (H) v Connacht Ravenhill Stadium 17,483 4 January 2020 Ulster (H) v Munster Ravenhill Stadium 17,461 20 December 2019 Leinster (H) v Ulster RDS Arena 16,375 9 November 2019 Munster (H) v Ulster Thomond Park 14,436 22 February 2020 Ulster (H) v Cheetahs Ravenhill Stadium 13,829 26 December 2019 Scarlets (H) v Ospreys Parc y Scarlets 13,682 29 February 2020 Munster (H) v Scarlets Thomond Park 13,554

End of Season Awards

PRO14 Dream Team

The 2019–20 Pro14 Dream Team is:

Pos Player TeamFB 15 Blair Kinghorn EdinburghRW 14 Monty Ioane BenettonOC 13 Rey Lee-Lo Cardiff BluesIC 12 Stuart McCloskey Ulster LW 11 Duhan van der Merwe EdinburghFH 10 Jaco van der Walt EdinburghSH 9 John Cooney UlsterN8 8 Viliame Mata EdinburghOF 7 Will Connors LeinsterBF 6 Max Deegan LeinsterRL 5 Grant Gilchrist EdinburghLL 4 Scott Fardy LeinsterTP 3 Leon Brown DragonsHK 2 Joseph Dweba CheetahsLP 1 Pierre Schoeman Edinburgh

Award winners The 2019–20 Pro14 season award winners are:

AwardWinner Players' Player of the Season Duhan van der Merwe (Edinburgh) Young Player of the Season Caelan Doris (Leinster) Coach of the Season Richard Cockerill (Edinburgh) Golden Boot JJ Hanrahan (Munster) Top Try Scorer Rhyno Smith (Cheetahs) Tackle Machine Paul Boyle (Connacht) Turnover King Josh Macleod (Scarlets) Iron Man Matthew Screech (Dragons)

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.

Most points

Rank Player Club Points 1 JJ Hanrahan Munster 124 2 John Cooney Ulster 105 3 Sam Davies Dragons 94 4 Ross Byrne Leinster 93 5 Jaco van der Walt Edinburgh 86 6 Ian Keatley Benetton 82 7 Dan Jones Scarlets 74 8 Ruan Pienaar Cheetahs 73 9 Jarrod Evans Cardiff Blues 72 10 Luke Price Ospreys 65

Most tries

Rank Player Club Tries 1 Rhyno Smith Cheetahs 102 Dave Kearney Leinster 9 Steff Evans Scarlets 9 4 Rónan Kelleher Leinster 8 5 Joseph Dweba Cheetahs 7 George Horne Glasgow Warriors 7 Duhan van der Merwe Edinburgh 7 James Lowe Leinster 7 9 Taine Basham Dragons 6 Mark Bennett Edinburgh 6 Arno Botha Munster 6 Matt Faddes Ulster 6 Hame Faiva Benetton 6

Notes

References

External links Official website

2019–20 Pro14

Bron en licentie