Guest Blogger: Discusses the reputation of the Pro12
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Guest Blogger The Rugby Scribbler discusses the current state of the Pro12, following a weekend of derbies.
#ItsThePro12sFault- Again
As I’m sure you may know, The Guinness Pro12 is made up of teams from Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Italy. The league has often been seen as a development league and is certainly not perfect. In a derby weekend, there has been criticism from some corners over the nature of the games- tight and dull in most. But then again, that’s often-what derbies bring.
Inevitably travel doesn’t make it ideal for fans to attend away games in the Pro12, finances mean it can be hard to acquire/retain quality players and of course, there can be a conflict of interests between the clubs and the National Unions who they are serving.
But the one thing that I find laughable, is the notion that the rugby is poor. Last year, undeniably was dreadful for the Pro12 sides. For the first time in its history, the play-offs of the Champions Cup did not have a Pro12 side in. That is poor, no matter how you wrap it up. It could be put down to the extra pressures the players in the league were under following the World Cup, but ultimately they didn’t step up to the mark in Europe last year.
A Bright Start
But let’s look at this year. No World Cup and a chance to rest after the summer tours.
Connacht (8th in Pro12) ran out of steam eventually and lost to Wasps (2nd in The Premiership), before controversially turning them over the next week. They also downed four times European Champions, Toulouse (7th in Top 14).
Glasgow Warriors (6th in Pro12) and Munster (1st in Pro12) both humiliated two times European champions, Leicester Tigers (5th in The Premiership). Glasgow also over-turned the French Champions and last year’s finalists, Racing 92 (5th in Top14).
Elsewhere, Scarlets (5th in Pro12) beat three times European Champions Toulon (4th in the Top14) and Ulster (4th in Pro12) impressed to beat Clermont Auvergne (1st in Top14).
Straight Comparisons are Limited
It’s not the best to compare results, as you could also look at the fashion in which Zebre were side-lined as Wasps went on a rout to win 82-14. The point is, the rugby is exciting and clearly can compete with the other leagues, when the players are on form.
Saracens win last year now means that the Premiership has won one more European title than The Pro12 and that looks set to continue with Saracens utterly dominant thus far. It is worth noting that all those Pro12 champions are the Irish Provinces- so it could be said that these are an exception and that the rest of the league is poor. Then again, low lying sides like Zebre beat Worcester Warriors last year and Treviso did the double over Bayonne this year.
You could go around in circles making comparisons- the point is, other than last year perhaps, Pro12 sides have been beating their English and French counter-parts and there’s not the great quality gap between the leagues that some would have you believe.
Intensity
When people talk of ‘low intensity’, I think there’s merit- having attended Bristol in their win over Worcester, the relegation battle is what made the atmosphere so incredible and made the game so intense. If it weren’t for relegation, I don’t think the atmosphere would have been so, and perhaps the players wouldn’t have put on such a show, but that’s down to opinion.
I don’t have the answer to proportionally lower crowds, finances et al, but the notion that the rugby in the Pro12 is below standard is in my eyes, just not correct.
Anyway, I guess when your team don’t perform, it’s easy to think that #ItsThePro12sFault.. But maybe we should think that when are teams win too eh.
You may be interested in- The Pro12- It’s better than you think
You can catch more of the Scribbler's stuff here, or follow him on Twitter: @RugbyScribbler
