Matches played 94 | ||
Countries Ireland
Italy
Scotland
Wales Attendance 760,513 (average 8,091 per match) Highest attendance 40,527 Leinster v Munster (8 October 2016) Lowest attendance 1,500 Zebre v Leinster (4 November 2016) Tries scored 385 (average 4.096 per match) | ||
The 2016–17 Pro12 (also known as the Guinness Pro12 for sponsorship reasons) is the sixteenth season of the professional rugby union competition originally known as the Celtic League, and the seventh with its current four-country format. It is the third season to be referred to as the Guinness Pro12.
Contents
The twelve competing teams are the four Irish teams: Connacht, Leinster, Munster and Ulster; two Italian teams: Treviso and Zebre; two Scottish teams: Edinburgh and Glasgow Warriors and four Welsh teams: Cardiff Blues, Newport Gwent Dragons, Ospreys and Scarlets. The first stage involves the 12 teams playing home and away in a league format with the top four sides qualifying for the semi-finals. The semi-finals will be one-off matches with 1st playing 4th and 2nd playing 3rd, with the higher ranked team receiving home advantage. The winners of the semi-finals will proceed to the Pro 12 final which will be played at the Aviva Stadium on 27 May 2017.
Ireland
Reigning champions Connacht started the season with a new coaching team. Backs and kicking coach Andre Bell left his role to return to his family in New Zealand. Head performance analyst and assistant attack coach Conor McPhillips takes over coaching of the backs, while the team's former head coach Eric Elwood takes over coaching kicking. The close season also saw the departure of the side's all-time record try-scorer Fionn Carr who scored 42 tries over two spells with the province. Connacht's homeground, the Galway Sportsground underwent renovations during the summer, with the addition of a seated stand increasing its capacity to 8,100.
Beaten finalists Leinster also saw changes to their backroom staff, with defence coach Kurt McQuilkin leaving the role for personal reasons in August 2016. Former England head coach Stuart Lancaster joined the province in the role of "senior coach" the following month as McQuilkin's replacement. Leinster also hired World Cup winning former New Zealand head coach Graham Henry as a consultant coach during the off-season. After taking over the captaincy when Kevin McLaughlin was forced to retire, Isa Nacewa was appointed as team captain on a permanent basis ahead of the season opener.
After finishing sixth in the previous season, Munster replaced much of the their coaching staff. Johan "Rassie" Erasmus joins as Director of Rugby from his role as high performance manager with South Africa, while Jacques Nienaber is the new defence coach. Head coach Anthony Foley remained part of the coaching team, but would now focus on lineouts and the breakdown. After CJ Stander deputised as captain for the previous season, Munster announced ahead of the season that Peter O'Mahony would reassume the role when he returned from injury. On 16 October 2016, Anthony Foley died suddenly in the Munster team hotel in Paris while on an away trip to play Racing 92 in the European Champions Cup.
Ulster announced in August 2016 that Rory Best was vacating the captaincy of the province. The Ireland captain was replaced in his role by Andrew Trimble, the team's record try-scorer, and Rob Herring, who took on the role in Best's absence the previous season.
Italy
After sacking head coach Umberto Casellato during the course of the previous season, Benetton Treviso hired former Canada head coach Kieran Crowley as his replacement. Marius Goosen, who served as coach following Casellato's dismissal, stays with the side as Director of Rugby, the role he held before replacing Casellato.
After finishing ahead of Treviso in the previous season, Zebre will play in top level European competition for the first time since the tournament format was changed at the end of the 2013–14 season. Zebre had the highest amount of changes to their squad in the competition with a total of 29 players either joining or departing the first team.
Scotland
After discussions of a possible move from Murrayfield to Easter Road in 2015 didn't come to fruition, it was announced in May 2016 that Edinburgh had agreed a partnership with George Watson's College and would play their home fixtures at the school's 6,000 capacity Myreside venue in the second half of the season. The team will have the option of returning to Murrayfield for larger games. Edinburgh had previously used the ground as a home in its early years as a professional side and played a home match there as recently as the 2015 Six Nations Championship. The off-season saw the loss of team captain Mike Coman, who left to join London Irish. With his departure, Grant Gilchrist and Stuart McInally took on the role in a joint capacity. On 28 September 2016, just four games into the season, Alan Solomons resigned as the team's head coach. The departure saw assistant coach Duncan Hodge promoted to acting head coach.
This season will be Gregor Townsend's last in charge of Glasgow Warriors as he will depart at the end of the year to take up the role of Scotland head coach. After serving as the team's sole captain in 2015–16, Jonny Gray will share the role with Henry Pyrgos for the coming season. Following issues with the playing surface at the team's home stadium, Scotstoun, an artificial playing surface was installed at the ground.
Rounds 1 to 22
All times are local.
Round 3
After 40 minutes of play, the match was "abandoned due to adverse weather conditions causing considerable risk to both the players and spectators". Zebre were leading 22–10 (3 tries to 1) when the match was abandoned. A rescheduled fixture "will be announced in due course. Game would later be rescheduled for 1 April 2017."
Round 9
Postponed prior to kickoff due to frozen pitch. Game to be rescheduled for 11 March 2017.
By club
Leading scorers
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. Correct as of 21 February 2017.