The Irish provinces will play in the United Rugby Championship from next season. Photo by David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile
The Irish provinces will play in the United Rugby Championship from next season. Photo by David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile
On this week's episode of The Left Wing, Will Slattery and Luke Fitzgerald are joined by Ruaidhri O'Connor to discuss all the latest rugby news.
The PRO14 is no more... now the Irish teams will be playing in the United Rugby Championship. The four big South African sides are joining the original PRO12 outfits to form a new league - and the lads sink their teeth into all the various changes.
The lads are concerned about the move away from merit-based qualification for Europe, but agree that it is a good move to allow the South African teams compete in the Champions Cup.
Speaking of Europe's premier rugby competition, there are some changes coming to that too, with the lads pleased overall but on the fence about having two-legged last 16 ties.
The lads finish things off by picking through Andy Farrell's Ireland squad for the summer tour, including the decision to omit Ross Byrne from the out-halves, as well as taking a look at some of the exciting young players involved.