In the case of a merger, the higher placed team would determine qualification, but it is as you say a moot point.
It kinda sounds like that, faced with oblivion the season after next, Ospreys entertained a takeover proposals from Scarlets, may or may not have agreed to something, and then it became a race to see who could leak stuff faster.

CONN8 wrote: Can anybody tell me how this is going to affect qualifying for the European champions cup.

What happens if Scarlets finish 3rd and then get disbanded?

It's very much a takeover, not a merger, however it's phrased, so there's no chance of Scarlets disbanding. As it stands the only Welsh sides with any chance of HEC qualification are Cardiff and Scarlets who will still exist next season. It would have been interesting, to say the least, if Ospreys were still in the mix.

Can anybody tell me how this is going to affect qualifying for the European champions cup.

What happens if Scarlets finish 3rd and then get disbanded?

Ospreys now swearing blind that they never agreed to the merger. Welsh Professional Rugby Board basically calling them liars. Weirder and weirder.

www.the42.ie/ospreys-statement-4525467-Mar2019/

The Ospreys Chairman has resigned so sounds like it's a done deal alright. Ken Owens seems to have given it a Least Worst Option type of endorsement ...

This is going to ruin my result comparison thread

Up until now, the talk was that Ospreys would be wound up altogether, but that it wouldn't happen until after next season. But this is starting to sound like it's pretty much agreed. That said we said the same about Le Fusion in Paris.
I suppose if 'twere done, 'tis best 'twere done quickly. No point in having teams starting next season knowing it was their last. Must be hard to take for both sets of fans. Like there's no real difference in terms of getting to games, they're ten miles apart, but that is a serious loss of identity and you'd wonder how readily the allegiances will transfer.

On the plus side, Colwyn Bay would be a great away trip. Only an hour by train from Holyhead so you'd be across in no time.

Let's hope Scarlets are staying focused and tonk Cardiff when they meet in a few week's time!

Hands off North Wales, that's Connacht's territory!

Can't really comment on the situation in Wales because I know feck all about it, but it does highlight how lucky we were to have 4 pre-existing provinces to move forward with when the game went professional. Our setup is the envy of many countries, but I don't think it can be mimicked because you can't just rewrite history. For them, the teams will end up being more like american franchises than Irish provinces IMO, and that is a much tougher sell. Very tricky, and seriously disruptive while it's going on. You can understand why the Ospreys players weren't exactly on top form at the weekend.

The idea seems to be that the WRU want to move towards an Irish system of predominantly WRU owned provinces. They aren't going to wrap up Dragons as they own them, Cardiff are ok funds wise, and Scarlets and Ospreys seen as being the softer targets to combine (with the WRU taking a share of the new team). The new northern team (also being WRU owned) would come in as 4th welsh team.

I know that a lot of Welsh fans don't have any particular love for the current set up, but I'm unsure if this would actually help. Like Cows, just dont know enough about Welsh rugby on the ground.

Lots of leaks coming out, plenty of whatsapp screengabs etc. Looks like announcement going to be this weekend if it's going ahead.

Another note: what a terrible time to do it. It's not like there's some important international competition that players need to be concentrating on over the next few weeks or anything.

My initial thoughts on this, are that it makes very little sense.
Why merge the two best/most successful teams?

But I dont know enough about Welsh rugby. Seems North Wales has a lot of fans, and deserve a team.
And really, that's what should count. You want teams to exist where the fans are, not where the money is.

Anyway, hopefully, this turns out to be a good thing, and it increases fan numbers at the Welsh grounds

Talk of Scarlets and Ospreys merging to become one side and a new side being set up in North Wales in Colwyn Bay. This would be a massive change to Welsh rugby, having their two most historically successful sides being merged. This has really come as a shock to me, personally I'd hate to see it happen, as it could take a while for the new side to develop and we could end up with another Aironi, who may eventually fold. This could really test Welsh Regional rugby, and may see them drop away altogether as players move away from Wales altogether. This is major news for the league and is being mooted to happen as soon as next season.

www.the42.ie/scarlets-ospreys-merge-wels...gby-4523998-Mar2019/

Edit: This really puts into perspective how good we have it over here. Forgetting the time that shall not be mentioned, we've enjoyed relative stability in the "club" game since professionalism comapred with our Welsh, Scottish and Italian counterparts. Makes me very glad at the work that's been done by the IRFU. But with things like this and the whole World League thing makes it seem like big changes are on the cards in the near future for pro Rugby.