Guinness Pro12: 2014 / 2015 Season’s fixtures confirmed

The league competition which features teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales, the Pro12, has had something of a makeover between last season and the upcoming one. The previous version of the Pro12 had been sponsored by RabboDirect for the last few years, but their deal came to an end and the competition needed a new sponsor. Up stepped Guinness to fill the vacuum to become the title sponsor. There have also been some changes on the broadcasting front with subscription television Sky Sports joining the likes of regular broadcasters BBC Wales, BBC ALBA, S4C and TG4 this season in a shared deal to show the games.

To add to the makeover there has been a fair amount of movement of players both away from and to the Pro12 with various South African players joining up with Pro12 clubs in the closed season – Former Free State Cheetahs and Blue Bulls prop Rossouw de Klerk has moved to Glasgow Warriors, ex Sharks player Anton Bresler has signed up with Edinburgh where he will join a host of South Africans to play under Alan Solomons and will team up with former team mate Allan Dell who signed back in February but has yet to feature for the team from the capital due to injury. Fullback Hennie Daniller and lock Andries Ferreira  will make their appearance for Italian club Zebre for the first time in the new season.

A tentative fixture list was published about a month ago when the Guinness deal was announced and yesterday more detail was added with kick off times and broadcaster details supplied through round thirteen. Here follows the announcement courtesy of pro12rugby.

Glasgow Warriors will have the chance to reverse the result of last year’s final at the earliest opportunity when they host Leinster in their Guinness Pro12 opener.

Gregor Townsend’s men, beaten 34-12 at the RDS in May, welcome the two-time reigning champions to Scotstoun on Saturday 6 September to get their campaign underway.

Another Irish-Scottish clash will kick off proceedings on Friday night, as last season’s beaten semi-finalists Munster host Edinburgh at Thomond Park.

Ospreys will be the first Welsh side in action, taking on Benetton Treviso at the Liberty Stadium on Friday, while Scarlets welcome Ulster the following afternoon.

Elsewhere Connacht will lock horns with Newport Gwent Dragons before Zebre and Cardiff Blues bring the weekend to a close when they do battle in Parma on Sunday.

Further down the schedule, Leinster and Munster will meet in round five for a much-anticipated clash at the Aviva Stadium, before the reverse fixture on Boxing Day.

And the 1872 Cup kicks off in round 12 – on 2 January – when Glasgow head to Murrayfield while round 11 holds the first all-Italian encounter, with Treviso and Zebre – last season’s bottom clubs – going head-to-head on 27 December.