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It will be all change for the Guinness PRO14 next season, with new-look conferences to go with the revised fixture schedule.

The two sections of the league have remained the same for the first two years since the conference structure was introduced following the expansion of the competition with two South African sides coming on board.

So you’ve had the Ospreys and Cardiff Blues in Conference A, alongside the likes of Munster, Glasgow and the Cheetahs, with the Scarlets and the Dragons in Conference B, vying with teams such as Leinster, Ulster and Edinburgh.

(Image: Â©INPHO/Billy Stickland)

But we are now set for a radical rejig next term.

The two sections are to be re-shaped, based on finishing positions at the end of this season's regular fixtures.

Conference A will feature the highest and lowest ranked Irish sides, along with the middle two Welsh teams, the Scottish and South African top dogs and the second Italian outfit.

Then Conference B will be made up of the best and worst performing sides from Wales, the second and third ranked Irish, the top Italian team and the second-placed Scots and South Africans.

Teams will play sides in their own section both home and away and then those in the other group home or away, plus return derbies.

It will mean a fresh look to the fixture list, with some sides who have only played each other once over the past two seasons now having home and away encounters.

If the new conferences were decided today... If the new Guinness PRO14 conference were decided today, they'd look like this... Conference A: Leinster, Connacht, Scarlets, Ospreys, Glasgow, Zebre, Cheetahs. Conference B: Munster, Ulster, Cardiff Blues, Dragons, Edinburgh, Benetton, Southern Kings.

The new conference structure will stay in place for two years, with sides having 11 home games the first season and ten the next.

There will also be a new-look to the fixture schedule due to this being a World Cup year.

The season won’t get underway until the final weekend of September, with the idea being to limit the number of games where teams will be without their international stars.

The World Cup in Japan runs from September 20 to November 2, with the group stage concluding on October 13.

There was also a desire to have league games in blocks, with less of a stop-start structure.

So, you will have an initial three rounds of matches, one week off for World Cup quarter-final weekend, and then another three rounds.

The idea is that players from some countries will start to filter back to their PRO14 teams after the group and quarter-final stages and become available for league duty.

There will be three rounds of matches in November, a month in which sides should gradually be getting back towards full strength, with no autumn internationals this year.

With no league games for the first three weeks in September, there will be a big early season focus on the Celtic Cup, in which Welsh regional A teams take on Irish provincial A sides.

Meanwhile, we now know the date for this term’s PRO14 European play-off match, which could well feature one, if not two, Welsh teams.

The fourth-placed teams from each conference will meet on the weekend of May 17-18, with a Champions Cup spot at stake.

Home advantage will go to the team that accrues most points in the regular season.

The exact date and kick-off time is yet to be confirmed, as the PRO14 play-off semi-finals are also scheduled for that weekend.

Looking at the tables, you could have a situation where either Cardiff Blues or the Ospreys are up against the Scarlets in the Euro play-off.

However, all three sides are still in the running for automatic qualification for the Champions Cup via a top three spot in their conferences.

The Ospreys are up against it, but the Blues and Scarlets are very much in with a shout of making the league play-offs and booking their Euro spots.

They both have huge games this weekend, with the Blues away to Munster on Friday night and the Scarlets hosting play-off rivals Edinburgh on Saturday evening.

NEW PRO14 FORMAT FOR NEXT SEASON

Conference A

Ireland 1 & 4

Wales 2 & 3

Scotland 1

Italy 2

SA 1

Conference B

Wales 1 & 4

Ireland 2 & 3

Scotland 2

Italy 1

SA 2

Fixture Schedule

Round 1: September 27-28

Round 2: October 4-5

Round 3: October 11-12

Round 4: October 25-26

Round 5: November 1-2

Round 6: November 8-9

Round 7: November 29-30

Christmas period: Derbies