That rapidly became a league of 12 with the addition of the Scottish Borders franchise, and the Welsh participation being reduced to five, including the ill-fated Celtic Warriors.
Then in 2010, for reasons best known only to the organisers, they added the two Italian teams, creating an additional level of complexity in terms of travel, both for teams and supporters. That was when the PRO12 title was coined, in recognition of the fact that it was no longer purely a Celtic league. Then in 2017 that became the PRO14 when the South African scraps from the Super Rugby table were brought in.
Now we are reportedly going to have yet more nonsense, as it seems the two South African teams that joined might get the boot, to be replaced by the four South African franchises left out in the cold when Super Rugby is replaced by a Trans-Tasman competition.
This story is from the July 19, 2020 edition of The Rugby Paper.
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This story is from the July 19, 2020 edition of The Rugby Paper.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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