Guinness PRO12 Round 8 Previews
All four Guinness PRO12 Unions have enjoyed autumn international wins, and will be seeking consistency and victories in their remaining games. Ireland are the only side so far to have won both of their fixtures, against Georgia on Sunday, and more significantly against South Africa the weekend before, moving them up to third in the IRB world rankings.
Scotland also put on a good performance despite losing against the top ranked side in the world, New Zealand on Saturday, the Scots having previously beaten Argentina. Wales also held a southern hemisphere giant, Australia, close on the first weekend, before being held close themselves by Fiji on Saturday.
Italy, having comfortably beaten Samoa first time out, were defeated by Argentina on Friday in a game that had to be moved forward 24 hours due to appalling weather in the region.
Whilst the southern hemisphere sides continue their tour of Europe, the Guinness PRO12 is back in action, the pick of the round must be the fixture between table topping Ospreys and third placed Ulster in Belfast on Friday night. Victory for the home team could see them swap places with their opponents, whereas an Ospreys win would stretch their lead even further at the top of the table.
Second placed Glasgow Warriors are also in action on Friday night with a trip to Llanelli to face Scarlets, a team who they completed the double against last season, whilst the remaining team in the Play-Off zone, Munster, also face a journey to Wales to play Newport Gwent Dragons the same evening.
The round wraps up on Sunday with Leinster perhaps being the team with the most to prove; with the season almost one third of the way through, they have not climbed higher than fifth in the table to date.
Initially 119 PRO12 players were selected in the original squads for autumn internationals, the best representation of any world league, but the next couple of weeks will give players a chance to stake their claim for forthcoming Guinness PRO12 and European matches.
