Despite the criticism directed towards the Guinness PRO12 in recent years, the league has hit back at its detractors this season by showcasing innovative and attacking rugby that has shaken up the European Rugby Champions Cup.

This season alone 385 tries have been scored in the league, a record for the PRO12 at this point in any campaign.

Furthermore, during the course of my conversation with the PRO12’s communications manager Adam Redmond, he was quick to highlight the fact that 258 test capped players have made an appearance in the league this season; the highest proportion across each of Europe’s top domestic competitions.

Unlike in France, where former internationals from the southern hemisphere fill the rosters of many Top 14 clubs, most of the PRO12’s test players are current internationals.

Although this is something which the PRO12 should rightly trumpet, such a concentration of talent brings its own problems when those same test players are ensconced with their national teams.

This issue was particularly acute for the PRO12’s leading sides last season, as the league’s star names were competing at the World Cup, leaving the clubs with little time to reintroduce them before the beginning of the Champions Cup.

In turn, some of the league’s most fervent detractors were quick to pounce on the PRO12’s inability to provide any Champions Cup quarter-finalists.

However, after enjoying an undisrupted pre-season, the PRO12 sides have hit back this campaign by playing an attractive brand of attacking rugby.

Nevertheless, critics remain but as Redmond argued, this has more to do with misconceptions.

“I think when people have a perception that’s long established it takes a period of time to change that. “We are having a great year. We are enjoying season that is setting a record pace for tries being scored. If we continue at this pace we will beat a record set back in 2004 when there were only 12 teams in the league. “A stat made more acute when you take into account the fact that most of our teams didn’t have defence coaches at the time. “It shows that teams are doing the right thing from an attacking point of view, and what’s really reassuring is to see our teams carry that form into Europe. “We’re the top try scorers in the Champions Cup, most tries per game, and for us as a competition that will be the greatest ever return since our clubs began competing in Europe.”

Despite the positives that are clearly in evidence this season, Redmond is aware of the challenges facing the Pro12. While the Premiership enjoys the benefits of a single market and broadcaster, the Guinness PRO12 must compete across four different markets where games are televised by seven broadcasters.

Within those markets there exists a media that can at times be very parochial, whereby the Irish, Welsh, Scottish, and Italian media focus solely on the exploits of their own respective sides.

Nowhere is still felt more intensely than in Wales, where the regions draw large crowds for derby games but struggle to retain those supporters when sides from the other constituent nations visit the Cardiff Blues, Ospreys, Scarlets and Newport Gwent Dragons.

In order to circumvent this issue, the WRU and the regions have begun sharing information behind the scenes and have brought in “a lot of expertise”, with the hope of turning the casual fan into a regular supporter.

The PRO12 are also taking a lead role in facilitating the exchange of ideas between clubs after separating away from the umbrella of the Six Nations and the British and Irish Lions as a company.

Until very recently, the PRO12 didn’t employ many full-time staff working purely on promoting the league. Now, however, the competition employs people in key areas such as communications, commercial development, and marketing so as to engage with clubs in order to find out what they are doing well and where they need help.

“What we now have is something that didn’t really exist previously. There is now a proactive organisation running the tournament that’s going to be able to help the clubs and guide them to where they want to go.” As a result, “the clubs are now seeing themselves as part of a bigger organisation, rather than 12 individual clubs trying to figure out what path is correct for them. “It’s not headline-making stuff, but over the course of this season and into next season and even two or three years down the line we’ll be able to turn around and say that the Guinness PRO12 looks and feels like a completely different tournament to what we knew five or ten years ago.”

Despite some demands for the league to jettison the Italian sides, Redmond believes they have a place in the PRO12, pointing to the competition’s responsibility to foster the sport in the country.

Although both Benetton Treviso and Zebre may now be struggling, the appointment of Conor O’Shea as national team coach will benefit Italy’s club sides in the future.

“What we need is an Italian rugby presence in the Guinness PRO12 that’s on the field and also off it. They need to be competitive and commercially strong. “Whether those teams continue to play where they are, or whether we have a team in Rome where the national team gets crowds of 80,000 are options on the table.”

The allure of playing in Rome is something that is clearly of interest to the PRO12, who would welcome attendances one quarter the size of what the Italian national team draws.

But as Redmond pointed out it’s not only about participation, but “how can they contribute and make the Championship stronger.”

“Can we say exactly what the Italian presence will look like in two years time? Not at this moment – but hopefully by the end of the season we will have a much better idea of who will be involved and, more importantly, where they will be playing.”

That has repercussions for any potential inclusion on an American franchise. Although Redmond stated that such a venture “remained a live option”, the project must be viable as there has to be some longevity associated with it.

“There’s no point bringing in a club that might struggle and exist for four years. Whether it’s trying to bring in someone in two years time or four years time, you have to know the project is going to be sustainable. “There is definitely lessons to be learned from bringing in the Italian teams. Could there have been more structure or more guidance put in [when the Italians joined the Pro12]? They are the lessons you have to learn if you’re going to bring in a team from North America where there is no professional rugby. “You have got to make sure that the people who get involved are there for the long haul, that it’s got the right backing, not just from local communities and media companies, but also from our side to make sure it’s not just a good idea that will fizzle out. “It’s no good somebody promising you some money and then a team goes out and loses the majority of its games. We have to make sure they can win the majority of their home games – that’s what makes the whole thing sustainable.”

Bringing in additional teams and/or changing the existing lineup are not the only plans the PRO12 have in place to reform the league so as to make it more appealing to fans and sponsors.

Throughout the last 12 months there has been a great deal of discussion surrounding the possibility of splitting the league into conferences. This would reduce the number of fixtures and increase the participation of the PRO12’s star players.

As fans, we all want to see games in the PRO12 where the intensity, speed and passion is on the same level as that which was on display in the recent Champions Cup game between the Glasgow Warriors and Munster, as does Redmond.

“It’s great us talking about all of the top quality clubs and internationals who are part of our competition, but the reality is that our supporters and broadcasters want to see these guys on the pitch as often as possible. “When the guys are putting up the billboards for the Cardiff Blues, they want to able to put Peter O’Mahony and CJ Stander up there, they want to be able to put Stuart Hogg up there, they want to be able to put them alongside Sam Warburton. “They want to know that the best of the best are going to go up against each other to sell the tickets and generate interest.”

In order to do so, the PRO12 are considering the introduction of a conference style system that would see the number of games reduced from 22 to 18 in order to avoid playing as many fixtures as possible during international windows.

This would create a situation where the league’s test players would be available for at least “80 per cent of those 18 games.” Such a percentage would not only appeal to fans, but to broadcasters.

Indeed, Redmond was keen to point out that there is “already a lot of interest there from broadcasters that maybe wasn’t there the last time round, particularly in Ireland.”

Such competition from broadcasters would no doubt be welcomed by clubs who find themselves struggling with their French and English counterparts on the transfer market.

Although Redmond didn’t reveal any specifics, he did say that the PRO12 might be in a position to reveal changes to the format of the league at the end of the season.

From what we have seen in this season’s Champions Cup, there is no doubting the quality of the PRO12, and no matter what its detractors argue, the competition only needs to make minor refinements to make it as exciting as what is on offer in England and France.

Perhaps though it is the willingness of the PRO12 to adapt to the desires of its fans that makes it stand apart, something which will foster future success after Redmond and his colleagues make the adjustments that will propel the competition onto a new plane.

Listen to the full interview with Adam Redmond, on our podcast The Oval Office.

https://soundcloud.com/punditarenarugby/we-speak-to-the-pro12-communications-director-adam-redmond-and-cover-all-the-recent-rugby-action

Alan Drumm, Pundit Arena

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