RogueXV wrote: Certainly not ideal that Sears has not been replaced, but I wonder how much his replacement could accomplish under the present circumstance. The overspend and Connacht's performance this season are a pretty big stick for the other provinces to knock us back into our place with. And, I'm not sure how certain the IRFU were that this whole mess was/is going to be sorted out, but they were facing a hit to their finances and there was little question as to where they'd go looking to cut expenses. IMO the best Connacht could do was keep their head down and hope this whole thing blew over with little damage to themselves.

What does this agreement means to the Italians as far as HEC spots especially if they drop out of the Rabo? Any players we should be looking at if they drop out?

The outcome for all the Irish provinces will be determined by the IRFU, our position is absolutely no different to any of the other provinces.

The overspend is an irrelevance really when you consider our debt is accrued over two seasons and Munster lost €1m in the last season. The IRFU won't be happy but it is exceptional expenses driven by two seasons of horrendous injuries rather than excessive spending on recruitment.

Bit of cause and effect there given we with only a marginally stronger squad at the top end but a very green one at the bottom end and are playing in the HEC (where there are no soft games compared to the Amlin) and B&I Cup. We brought in a few higher quality players at the top end, but the main squad is beefed up by a lot of development players. Just go to the Wiki page for Connacht and compare who went out and who came in during the summer, a huge amount of experience was lost.. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connacht_Rugby#Pla..._In_Season_2013.2F14

connachtexile wrote:

They also report plans for a pro10 without the Italians who they say are committed to their own league. It further announces plans for a welsh inter region cup to replacefixtures lost by iItalians leaving. It would appear a lot has happened in last few days.

I don't understand why the Italians are doing this. They had a league before and it was doggeral so what's changed? I think each club having an academy is a good idea and will help the likes of Zebre immensely if a few local boys are on the team but if they wanted to increase their player numbers why not increase the amount of teams they have in the Rabo from 2 to 4? That would put them on an even keel with us and the Welsh and they could still play a strong level of rugby.

Salmson may well be right in the end but I think that 10 teams is the optimum amount from a competition perspective in this league and would welcome a return to the Celtic league. The international windows have too much impact on the quality of the league under the current format. 9 games fall within those windows and when teams like Glasgow, Edinburgh and the Italians are down 12 players and playing semi pro players in league its a problem.
Celtic rugby estimates that it costs 60k per team to go to Italy per season. If you flip that figure then it costs the Italians 660k per season in travel, 3m in competition fees and 7.5m a season in team costs. That's over 11m before a euro is spent on game promotion/ development in Italy. The idea that they have is good in theory and should reap benefits in the long term. The FIRs seat on the board of ERC and 6ns should guarantee their league winners a spot in the Heineken cup and runners up in amlin cup. The 3,.66m saved could be used on central contracts etc.
We could follow the welsh idea and reintroduce the inter pros to replace the lost fixtures during the international windows. The pro10 would retain 6 hec spots with Scotland guaranteed 1. It could all work out fine in the end.

Certainly not ideal that Sears has not been replaced, but I wonder how much his replacement could accomplish under the present circumstance. The overspend and Connacht's performance this season are a pretty big stick for the other provinces to knock us back into our place with. And, I'm not sure how certain the IRFU were that this whole mess was/is going to be sorted out, but they were facing a hit to their finances and there was little question as to where they'd go looking to cut expenses. IMO the best Connacht could do was keep their head down and hope this whole thing blew over with little damage to themselves.

What does this agreement means to the Italians as far as HEC spots especially if they drop out of the Rabo? Any players we should be looking at if they drop out?

connachtexile wrote: I don't understand why the Italians are doing this. They had a league before and it was doggeral so what's changed?

As usual it's a negotiation tactic: Zebre, who are attached to the Italian Unions high performance and underage development centre, get twice the funding from the union as Treviso, who are an independent club; this is Treviso's way of trying to extract more funding.

Likewise the Italian federation are chafing at the 3 million a year "bond" (entry fee/travel expenses) they pay the league and want it greatly reduced or eliminated, hence their desire to play up their re-organisation of the existing Italian league as an "alternative" to the Rabo.

Likewise the Anglo-Welsh league: the English have nothing left to lose by promoting it and might force the unions to compromise on the HEC/HEC replacement, while for the Welsh regions it's just about extracting the maximum possible from the WRU before signing up (it's mid-February, the regions need to start flogging season tickets in mid-April, and a genuine attempt to set up an Anglo Welsh league would have to get past two court cases, one between the WRU and RRW, and one between the PRL shareholders - which include several Championship clubs - and the majority of the Championship teams; put simply the Welsh regions would be out of business about a week after the end of the season).

To be honest the HEC (or replacement) is more at risk that the Rabo.

They also report plans for a pro10 without the Italians who they say are committed to their own league. It further announces plans for a welsh inter region cup to replacefixtures lost by iItalians leaving. It would appear a lot has happened in last few days.

I don't understand why the Italians are doing this. They had a league before and it was doggeral so what's changed? I think each club having an academy is a good idea and will help the likes of Zebre immensely if a few local boys are on the team but if they wanted to increase their player numbers why not increase the amount of teams they have in the Rabo from 2 to 4? That would put them on an even keel with us and the Welsh and they could still play a strong level of rugby.

We must keep the faith Darragh507. A lot of what has happened this season has been very dispiriting, but in my mind the most ominous has been the non-replacement of Tom Sears. We have no one to stand up for our interests, and in fact while we have an IRFU placeman in interim charge I would argue his interests may in fact be inimical to ours.

I must say, I've become very disillusioned with the whole Connacht cause.

I really am not sure if we will be, or even should be here in the next three years.

Wonderful for the spirit and growth of grassroots rugby, but the pro game is a right mess. One off wins are not worth a damn to keep the vultures at bay.

But i don't necessarily feel this is specifically a coaching issue.The whole ship is rudderless.

Walesonline.co.UK are reporting tonight that a peace deal has been brokered and should be finalised in Paris on Wednesday. It will be as forecasted. 7 pro12, finance split 3 ways, 6ns governance and some compromise on TV deal although that's less certain on the detail and may take a bit longer to iron out. According to report this spells the end of the AW league. They also report plans for a pro10 without the Italians who they say are committed to their own league. It further announces plans for a welsh inter region cup to replacefixtures lost by iItalians leaving. It would appear a lot has happened in last few days.

The big thing that worries me with this situation is the lack of leadership in Connacht. For all the failings of Sears, at least he was there to stand up for Connacht. Also with Eric there you'd be confident he would stand his ground also.

Whatever about the on field issues at present what most worries me is we are being led to the brink of our existence as a professional outfit with an IRFU yes man in charge. The PGB is gone very quiet and all the silence is deafening from Connacht Rugby. I don't doubt there is hard work going on behind the scenes but everything comes back to strong management and we have none.

Unless the whole mess is sorted out to some extent, much as it galls me to say it, it'd be hard to justify Connacht's existence. We have some contracts signed but we are once again looking on hoping that it'll be convenient for the others that we stay in existence rather than having strong representation on our own.

I think something less than satisfactory to all parties will eventually be cobbled together but its getting to crisis time at this stage.

I've read the full statement and the last line is very telling. Benetton Treviso will play in any competitions that the FIR sign up to. The only comment that PRO12 made was to say that negotiations are ongoing between FIR and Celtic rugby regarding a new participationagreement so in short its just another example of posturing in modern rugby.

I can't see how there will be a Pro 12 next season, unless the Heineken Cup gets sorted out in the next month.

Welsh teams will go. Zebre wont play if Treviso are gone. What are Connacht going to play in?

This situation is getting very worrying

Can't help but feel if the IRFU are not receiving the same funding as previously than we could once again be in trouble.

Treviso have dropped out of the PRO 12

www.planetrugby.com/story/0,25883,16024_9160272,00.html

What the f**k are we going to watch next season. This is a disaster, and all the APs fault

It's amazing how one-sided the media coverage has been to be honest. It's not really pointed out that RRW failed to re-appoint a representative or that Wheeler voted for this. Reading the Guardian would make you think that the unions overrode the wishes of the Welsh Regions and PRL in doing this.

WRU have made loan offer to regions to cover the amount.

salmson wrote: It appears the unions have gone over to the attack and are attempting to strong-arm the Welsh regions, we'll know soon whether they'll capitulate or go to court.

I don't think there is any strong-arming by unions going on here, if there was, then Peter Wheeler would have voted against the move.
I'd say it's pretty above board, they're worried about their future solvency and are postponing paying liabilities until they assess their financial situation.