2019–20 Pro14

2019–20 Pro14
Countries	Ireland Italy Scotland South Africa Wales
Date	27 September 2019 – 12 September 2020
Champions	Leinster (7th title)
Runners-up	Ulster
Matches played	89
Attendance	652,443 (average 7,331 per match)
Highest attendance	27,437 Edinburgh v Glasgow (28 December 2019)
Lowest attendance	1,500 Southern Kings v Connacht (1 March 2020)
Top point scorer	JJ Hanrahan (Munster) 101 points
Top try scorer	Rhyno Smith (Cheetahs) 10 tries
Official website
www.pro14rugby.org
← 2018–19 2020–21 →

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).^[1][2]

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.^[3] 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.^{[4] [5]}

Location of Irish, Scottish and Welsh teams: Ulster Connacht Leinster Munster Glasgow Warriors Edinburgh Scarlets Ospreys Dragons Cardiff	Location of Italian teams: Benetton Zebre Parma Location of South African teams: Southern Kings Cheetahs
Conference A; Conference B.

Team	Coach / Director of Rugby	Captain	Stadium/ Stadia	Capacity
Benetton	Kieran Crowley	Dean Budd	Stadio Comunale di Monigo, Treviso	6,700
Cardiff Blues	John Mulvihill	Ellis Jenkins	Cardiff Arms Park[a]	12,125
Cheetahs	Franco Smith Hawies Fourie	Tian Meyer	Free State Stadium	48,000
Connacht	Andy Friend	Jarrad Butler	Galway Sportsgrounds[b]	8,129
Dragons	Dean Ryan	Cory Hill	Rodney Parade	8,700
Edinburgh	Richard Cockerill	Stuart McInally	Murrayfield Stadium	67,144[c]
Glasgow Warriors	Dave Rennie	Callum Gibbins Ryan Wilson	Scotstoun Stadium[d]	7,351
Leinster	Leo Cullen	Johnny Sexton	RDS Arena Aviva Stadium	18,500 51,700
Munster	Johann van Graan	Peter O'Mahony	Thomond Park Irish Independent Park[e]	25,600[f] 8,008
Ospreys	Allen Clarke	Justin Tipuric	Liberty Stadium[g]	20,827
Scarlets	Brad Mooar Glenn Delaney	Ken Owens	Parc y Scarlets	14,870
Southern Kings	Robbi Kempson (interim)	JC Astle	Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium	48,459
Ulster	Dan McFarland	Iain Henderson	Kingspan Stadium[h]	18,196
Zebre	Michael Bradley	Tommaso Castello	Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi[i]	5,000

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.^[6] To ensure a competitive balance, the teams are distributed approximately evenly between the conferences based upon their performance in the previous season.^[7]

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^[8][9]

• 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

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.^[10] 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.^[11]

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.^[12]

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.

Connacht underwent a rebranding during the off-season, updating their team crest in the process.^[13] During the course of the season, the planned redevelopment of the Sportsground was boosted by the commitment of €20 million from the Irish government.^[14]

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.^[15] With captain Johnny Sexton and vice-captain Rhys Ruddock missing the start of the season due to the World Cup,^[16] Scott Fardy served as team captain in the opening rounds.^[17]

Munster's backs coach Felix Jones and forwards coach Jerry Flannery left the province when their contracts expired in June 2019.^[18] Former attack coach for the Australian national team, Stephen Larkham, was signed by the province as a senior coach ahead of the season,^[19] while Graham Rowntree joined as their new forwards coach after the completion of his duties with Georgia at the World Cup.^[20] The team's regular captain, Peter O'Mahony, missed the opening rounds of the tournament due to the World Cup,^[16] during which time Billy Holland captained the side.^[21]

Long-serving Ulster captain Rory Best announced in April 2019 that he would retire from rugby after the 2019 Rugby World Cup.^[22] Iain Henderson replaced Best as captain.^[23] With Henderson unavailable in the opening rounds due to the World Cup,^[16] the side was captained by Rob Herring.^[24] Herring was later called up to the World Cup as an injury replacement,^[25] and the captaincy went to Billy Burns.^[26]

Cheetahs announced in June 2019 that Hawies Fourie had replaced Franco Smith as their head coach.^[27]

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.^[28] 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.^[29]

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.^[30]

2019–20 Pro14 table view · watch · edit · discuss
Conference A
	Team	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	TF	TA	TBP	LBP	PTS
1	Leinster (CH)	15	15	0	0	531	216	+315	74	28	9	0	69
2	Ulster (RU)	15	8	1	6	385	306	+79	50	40	7	3	44[j]
3	Glasgow Warriors	15	8	0	7	364	329	+35	53	42	5	1	38
4	Cheetahs	13	6	0	7	342	280	+62	48	32	5	2	32
5	Dragons	15	5	1	9	283	415	–132	32	49	1	1	24
6	Zebre	15	3	1	11	230	399	–169	29	56	4	3	21
7	Ospreys	15	2	2	11	205	375	–170	21	45	1	4	17
Conference B
	Team	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	TF	TA	TBP	LBP	PTS
1	Edinburgh (SF)	15	11	0	4	391	225	+166	47	27	5	2	51
2	Munster (SF)	15	10	0	5	426	255	+171	53	26	8	3	51
3	Scarlets	15	10	0	5	354	274	+80	46	34	5	2	47
4	Connacht	15	8	0	7	302	360	–58	41	48	7	1	40
5	Benetton	15	6	1	8	309	350	–41	35	42	5	5	36
6	Cardiff Blues	15	7	0	8	283	327	–44	30	38	3	2	33
7	Southern Kings	13	1	0	12	204	498	–294	23	75	0	3	7
If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order -[32] number of matches won the difference between points for and points against the number of tries scored the most points scored the difference between tries for and tries against the fewest red cards received the fewest yellow cards received
Green background indicates teams that compete in the Pro14 play-offs, and also earn a place in the 2020–21 European Champions Cup Blue background indicates teams outside the play-off places that earn a place in the 2020–21 European Champions Cup Red background indicates teams ineligible for European cup tournaments Plain background indicates teams that earn a place in the 2020–21 European Rugby Challenge Cup. (CH) Champions. (RU) Runners-up. (SF) Losing semi-finalists. (Q) Qualified for Pro14 play-off semi-finals. (e) Cannot reach play-offs.

All times are local.

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

• Postponed due to bad weather. Game to be rescheduled for 6 March 2020.^[33]

---

---

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

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

---

• Rescheduled from 15 February 2020.

---

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
	4 September 2020
	Leinster (A1)	13
					12 September 2020
	Munster (B2)	3
					Leinster	27
	5 September 2020
					Ulster	5
	Edinburgh (B1)	19
	Ulster (A2)	22

• 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.

Club	Home games	Total	Average	Highest	Lowest	% 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%

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

The 2019–20 Pro14 Dream Team is:^[34]

Pos		Player	Team
FB	15	Blair Kinghorn	Edinburgh
RW	14	Monty Ioane	Benetton
OC	13	Rey Lee-Lo	Cardiff Blues
IC	12	Stuart McCloskey	Ulster
LW	11	Duhan van der Merwe	Edinburgh
FH	10	Jaco van der Walt	Edinburgh
SH	9	John Cooney	Ulster
N8	8	Viliame Mata	Edinburgh
OF	7	Will Connors	Leinster
BF	6	Max Deegan	Leinster
RL	5	Grant Gilchrist	Edinburgh
LL	4	Scott Fardy	Leinster
TP	3	Leon Brown	Dragons
HK	2	Joseph Dweba	Cheetahs
LP	1	Pierre Schoeman	Edinburgh

The 2019–20 Pro14 season award winners are:^[35]

Award	Winner
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)

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.

• Official website