pinky wrote:

connemara man wrote:

You'd have to wonder though why they wouldn't send the Welsh officials up to Scotstoun, and give the Swansea gig to Johnny Lacy et al.. , but we digress.

I just figured that they were giving Lacey a bit of a swansong in the semi-final given that he is due to finish up this year.

I've no basis for that though, so I could be way off the mark! :lol:

connemara man wrote: He was grand if anything Scarlets got the rub of the green, ospreys shown a harsh yellow card

You'd have to wonder though why they wouldn't send the Welsh officials up to Scotstoun, and give the Swansea gig to Johnny Lacy et al.. , but we digress.

Bath are confirmed into Pot 4 along with Ospreys and Treviso. Sale should join them as long as La Rochelle get a better result at home to Bordeaux than Montpellier get away to Clermont. That's not a given though as Clermont have nothing really to play for.
Harlequins go into Pot 3 along with Connacht so we can't get them in the draw. Bath would be a nice spot to visit.

He was grand if anything Scarlets got the rub of the green, ospreys shown a harsh yellow card

Osprey into the CC for next year.
Didn't see the game but scarlet fans not at all happy with Ben Whitehouse. How you let an Osprey fan ref that match I'll never know.

Ospreys v Scarlets confirmed for Saturday night.
Sale are surely odds on to qualify now. Seventh would now be good enough for them as long as La Rochelle make top 6. So beating Gloucester would do it. Bristol or Wasps could sneak in if Leicester do a job on Bath.

DeadStraightStare wrote: How do they determine rankings for each league? Do the results in the play offs effect it or is it league position alone?

Top 6 in Pro 14/T14 and Top 4 in Prem by playoff as explained in Pinky's excellent summary. Points gained over the regular season is used as a tiebreaker to decide best/worst loser in a playoff round. 3 scenarios in play as there is a mini draw before the main draw to see which league's 2nd and 4th sides are placed in Pot 2.

How do they determine rankings for each league? Do the results in the play offs effect it or is it league position alone?

Premiership with 3 sides in Pot 2:

Pot 1: T14 No 1, Prem No 1, T14 No 2
Pot 2: Prem No 2, T14 No 3, Prem No 3, Prem No 4
Pot 3: Connacht
Pot 4: Benetton, T14 No 6, Prem No 6, Pro 14 No 7, Bonus Side

Pro 14 with 3 sides in Pot 2:

Pot 1: T14 No 1, Prem No 1, Prem No 2
Pot 2: T14 No 3, Prem No 3
Pot 3: Connacht
Pot 4: Benetton, T14 No 6, Prem No 6, Pro 14 No 7, Bonus Side

Top 14 with 3 sides in Pot 2:

Pot 1: T14 No 1, Prem No 1, Prem No 2
Pot 2: T14 No 2, T14 No 3, Prem No 3, T14 No 4
Pot 3: Connacht
Pot 4: Benetton, T14 No 6, Prem No 6, Pro 14 No 7, Bonus Side

Now that all that egg-chasing is done with, we can concentrate on the highlight of everyone's rugby season, the European Draw, which will presumably be in late June and follow the same format as recent years: www.epcrugby.com/2018/06/19/pool-draws-2...pions-challenge-cup/

Connacht and Treviso's defeats ensure that Connacht are the fifth ranked Pro14 team and will definitely be in Pot 3 in the draw, which means we can get one of the less scary Pot 4 teams (though admittedly there aren't many soft touches).

The leagues are kept apart for the first three pots, which means we can't get Glasgow (or another Irish province). We also obviously can't get a team from our own pot, which includes the fifth ranked teams and two of the three fourth ranked.

So in summary we will definitely get one English and one French team from the semi-finals in their leagues, at least one of which must be a finalist. Plus one team from Pot 4, which can be from any league.

Ranking depends on the playoffs so not possible to know exactly how they'll finish up, especially in France, where in theory any of the top 9 teams could still win it.
But basically in England, Exeter, Saracens and Gloucester are guaranteed top 4 plus Northampton or Harlequins.
In France, Toulouse and Clermont are in and you would have to fancy Lyon and Racing to get home barrages and win them (but you can never write off Castres).

Pot 4 then includes Treviso and the Pro 14 playoff winner (Ospreys/Scarlets/Cardiff), almost certainly Sale, probably one of La Rochelle or Castres plus another Pro14 or English team (likely Bath) depending on how the whole 20th place shenanigans works out.

I'd like to get Lyon as they're the most beatable of the potential options. Ideally Lyon make the final (home barrage plus semi against Clermont in Bordeaux, not very likely but not impossible), then we can get Quins or Saints as our Pot 2 team. Would need a lot of luck for that though. A more realistic ambition would be Exeter and Lyon.
From Pot 4, you'd think Treviso are the best option as the World Cup might prevent them performing at the level they did this season.

Bath beat Wasps today, so Sale down to 7th and needing help from Tigers to make top 6 in Round 22.

Yeah La Rochelle can go very close to wrapping it up tonight if the results go as expected. They could be 8 - 10 clear of Montpellier and Bordeaux.

pinky wrote: I like the little footnote that says if Ospreys host the game on May 29th it will be at an alternative venue as the Liberty is unavailable. Let's see, there's a lovely stadium ten miles away that they could play Scarlets in
So if Leinster win, Ospreys might get straight in, or they might lose home advantage for a playoff that takes place five weeks after the end of the regular season.
Odd that they didn't take account of the fact that if Sale don't make the top 6 on May 18th (more likely after the draw with Bristol tonight), they will know the line-up then, so no need to wait 11 days.

La Rochelle have the spot if they need it and the T14 wraps the week after the Prem. T14 uses head to head as 1st tie breaker and La Rochelle host Bordeaux (one of their nearest challengers) in Round 26!

I like the little footnote that says if Ospreys host the game on May 29th it will be at an alternative venue as the Liberty is unavailable. Let's see, there's a lovely stadium ten miles away that they could play Scarlets in
So if Leinster win, Ospreys might get straight in, or they might lose home advantage for a playoff that takes place five weeks after the end of the regular season.
Odd that they didn't take account of the fact that if Sale don't make the top 6 on May 18th (more likely after the draw with Bristol tonight), they will know the line-up then, so no need to wait 11 days.

Flamin' 'eck, that is unnecessarily complicated.
You'd pity the Blues players, who thought they were on holidays and now have to stay fit just in case!

Play-off details confirmed:

If Saracens win Heineken then Ospreys v Scarlets Sat May 18 7:45pm

If Leinster win, Ospreys/Cardiff v Scarlets Wed May 29

Ospreys get automatic spot if league gets 8 spots.

Champions Cup Play-Off

Ospreys (A4) and Scarlets (B4) will compete in the Champions Cup Play-Off and a provisional date has been identified and will be confirmed by PRO14 Rugby in due course. PRO14 Rugby will need to take account of whether an additional eighth Champions Cup place might be available were Leinster to win the European tournament and all four Challenge Cup Semi-Finalists have already qualified through their domestic leagues.

www.pro14rugby.org/2019/04/27/guinness-p...mi-finals-confirmed/

Reading between the lines there, it seems that if Saracens win the Champions Cup, the playoff will be the following weekend (there is a TBC game in the fixture list for that weekend), and if Leinster win, they will have another meeting to decide what happens
Both Sale and La Rochelle now look good for Top 6 and they can both take a big step towards it next week, but it is not possible that it will be confirmed either way by the scheduled play-off date. They do seem to have ruled out the possibility of Cardiff being involved though (under last season's rules they would have been entitled to a home play-off against Scarlets).