The Pro12 organisers have today announced the expansion on the current format to include two South African clubs.
The competition will now become the Guiness Pro14 and feature South African outfits Cheetahs and Southern Kings.
The move has been the worst kept secret in rugby in recent weeks with discussions between the Pro12 organisers and South Africa Rugby dragging out in the last couple of weeks.
The move will also see the league split into two conferences made up of seven teams, with the Welsh teams split into two.
The #GUINNESSPRO14 is officially here, welcome @CheetahsRugby and @SouthernKingsSA! pic.twitter.com/D4rakKczCa
— PRO12RUGBY (@PRO12rugby) August 1, 2017
The Cardiff Blues and the Ospreys find themselves in Conference A next season, while the Scarlets and the Dragons are placed in Conference B.
However, it has been announced that all home and away derbies have been protected due to their importance to the league.
Each conference is made up of two Welsh and two Irish teams, then one from each of Scotland, Italy and South Africa.
Here’s how the new format will work:
- Each conference will contain 7 teams with an equal split of teams from each union
- Every team plays 21 regular season games
- Every team to play each other at least once
- All Home & Away Derby fixtures will remain in place
- Italian, Scottish and South African teams will play an additional Derby fixture to even out the schedule (e.g. Edinburgh will play Glasgow Warriors three times)
- The Guinness PRO14 Final Series will now include Quarter-Finals allowing six clubs to reach the knock-out stages (teams 1-3 from each Conference)
- The top 3 clubs from each conference will qualify for the Champions Cup while the team with the highest points total outside of those six teams across both conferences will claim the final Champions Cup place
(Featured image: SimonW92)