The 2014–15 Pro12 (also known as the ''Guinness Pro12'' for sponsorship reasons) was the 14th season of the professional rugby union competition originally known as the Celtic League, and the fifth with its current four-country format. It was the first season to be referred to as the ''Pro12'' to not have RaboDirect as the title sponsor, having been replaced by

Guinness Guinness () is an Irish dry stout that originated in the brewery of Arthur Guinness at St. James's Gate, Dublin, Ireland, in 1759. It is one of the most successful alcohol brands worldwide, brewed in almost 50 countries, and available in ove ...

. Leinster were the defending champions having beaten Glasgow Warriors in the previous season's playoff final, to become the first team in the league to successfully retain the trophy. Leinster were unable to defend their title as they failed to qualify for the end-of-season playoffs for the top four teams after the regular season. Glasgow Warriors finished the regular season on top of the table, and were crowned champions for the first time, beating second seeded team

Munster Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following the ...

31–13 in the final. Thus, the Warriors became the first Scottish team to win a professional trophy, beating Edinburgh's appearance in the final of the

2014–15 European Rugby Challenge Cup The 2014–15 European Rugby Challenge Cup was the first season of the European Rugby Challenge Cup, the annual rugby union competition. It is the 19th season of second tier pan-European club competition in general, as the competition replaces the ...

. The twelve competing teams were the four Irish teams, Connacht, Leinster, Munster and Ulster; two Italian teams, Benetton Treviso and Zebre; two Scottish teams, Edinburgh and Glasgow Warriors and four Welsh teams,

Cardiff Blues Cardiff Rugby ( cy, Rygbi Caerdydd) are one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams. They compete in the United Rugby Championship and in European Professional Club Rugby competitions. Based in Cardiff, the team play at Cardiff Arms ...

Newport Gwent Dragons Dragons RFC ( cy, Dreigiau) are one of the four professional rugby union regional teams in Wales. They are owned by the Welsh Rugby Union and play their home games at Rodney Parade, Newport and at other grounds around the region. They play in ...

Ospreys The osprey (''Pandion haliaetus''), , also called sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor reaching more than in length and across the wings. It is brown o ...

and Scarlets. The Guinness PRO12 Trophy is a 60 cm tall piece handmade made by silversmith Thomas Lyte from 8.3 kg of sterling silver, with league branding highlighted in gold plate.

Changes for the season

All countries

With the

Heineken Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Heineken Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pre ...

being replaced by the 20-team

European Rugby Champions Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Heineken Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pre ...

in the 2014–15 season, the Pro12 table had a greater impact on qualification. Though the qualification was decided by the league table in the 2013–14 season, teams were not aware this would be the case until April 2014. Under the previous format, the Pro12 provided a minimum of ten teams, with Scotland and Italy providing two teams each, and Ireland and Wales both providing three. The new system saw one place now being reserved for the highest finishing Pro12 team from each of four participating countries and three other qualifiers based solely on league position, for a total of seven teams. The other teams were entered in the new second-tier competition, the European Rugby Challenge Cup. Starting in the 2015–16 competition, the 20th tournament spot will be decided by a playoff involving the Pro12's highest-finishing team that has not already qualified, the seventh highest finishing club from France's Top 14 and the seventh highest finishing club from the English Premiership. The play-off was initially planned to involve two Pro12 teams, but that plan was scrapped due to fixture clashes with the Top 14.

Ireland

Connacht entered the season with a new captain following the forced retirement of Craig Clarke due to persistent concussions. John Muldoon was confirmed as the new captain in August 2014. They were also without the playing services of former captain and centurion

Gavin Duffy Gavin Duffy (born Liam Duffy; 29 April 1960) Kildare, Ireland is an Irish entrepreneur and businessman who was a former part owner of the HRM Group of Companies, one of Ireland's largest recruitment companies. Duffy is a regular conference spea ...

, whose contract was not renewed the previous season. It was later announced that he had taken up a role with the province's commercial team. Leinster came into the competition without the services of long serving player Brian O'Driscoll, who retired at the end of the 2013–14 season, for the first time. O'Driscoll had played in every previous season of the league. They were also without last year's captain Leo Cullen on the playing field, as he also retired, taking up the role of forwards coach. Irish international Jamie Heaslip was announced as the side's new captain in August 2014, with Rob Kearney and Seán O'Brien serving as his vice-captains. Following the departure of last year's head coach

Rob Penney Rob Penney (born 27 April 1964) is a former New Zealand rugby union player, playing at No.8 for Canterbury throughout his career. He has served in various coaching roles since 2005. He was the head coach of Australian Super Rugby side Waratah ...

, who took up a role with the Japanese side NTT Communications Shining Arcs,

were coached by former player and previous season's forwards coach

Anthony Foley Anthony Gerard Foley (30 October 1973 – 16 October 2016) was an Irish rugby union player and head coach of Munster. He was attached to the same squad during his professional playing career. He was a member of the Munster team that won the 200 ...

. Foley was joined in the coaching staff by his fellow former Munster players

Mick O'Driscoll Michael Rowan O'Driscoll (born 8 October 1978) is an Irish former rugby union player. He played for Munster in the Pro12 and Heineken Cup, and played internationally for Ireland. He was an integral senior player for Munster and captained the pr ...

and Jerry Flannery, as well as Cork Constitution head coach Brian Walsh. Ulster entered the season with their home stadium, the Kingspan Stadium redeveloped, with the stadium's capacity having been increased to 18,196. In June 2014, David Humphreys left his post as the province's Director of Rugby, joining English Premiership side Gloucester. Later that month, it was announced that head coach

Mark Anscombe Mark Anscombe (born 1957) is a New Zealand rugby union coach, having played rugby spanning across 15 years. Anscombe (father of Welsh international Gareth Anscombe) has been a rugby union coach since 1994, coaching various ages and styles in both ...

would also leave the province "with immediate effect". assistant coach Les Kiss filled the role of Director of Rugby on an interim basis. In October 2014, Kiss returned to his position with the Ireland team, with

Neil Doak Neil George Doak (born 21 June 1972) is a Northern Irish former cricketer and rugby union player. He currently works as a rugby union coach, and has served as attack and backs coach with English club side Worcester Warriors, and Georgia during t ...

taking the role of head coach. It was announced that Kiss would return to his role with Ulster on a full-time basis following the 2015 World Cup. In addition to the changes in the coaching staff, Ulster entered the season with Rory Best reinstated as captain, following the retirement of Johann Muller at the end of the previous season.

Italy

Despite threats during the previous season that the team would be pulled out of the competition, Benetton Treviso returned for their fifth season in the league. Following the resignation of Franco Smith during the course of the previous season, Umberto Casellato took over as the side's head coach. Casellato joined the side from Zebre where he had served as assistant coach.

Scotland

Ahead of the 2014–15 season, Edinburgh lost a number of experienced players, including Geoff Cross, Nick De Luca, Greig Laidlaw and

Ross Rennie Ross Rennie (born 29 March 1986 in Scotland) is a former rugby union player. He first played for Edinburgh Rugby and then Bristol Rugby as well as representing the Scotland national team. His position of choice is Flanker. He was called up t ...

. The departure of Laidlaw meant Edinburgh came into the competition with a new captain, and in September 2014, Mike Coman was named as skipper. Edinburgh's home ground of Murrayfield was resurfaced by the time the new season began, following an infestation of

nematode The nematodes ( or grc-gre, Νηματώδη; la, Nematoda) or roundworms constitute the phylum Nematoda (also called Nemathelminthes), with plant-Parasitism, parasitic nematodes also known as eelworms. They are a diverse animal phylum inhab ...

s, a type of parasitic worm. In addition to being resurfaced, Murrayfield was renamed under a naming rights agreement with the BT Group. The deal saw the ground referred to as 'BT Murrayfield Stadium'.

Wales

Beginning in 2014–15, the BT Group became the main sponsor on the shirts of three of the four Welsh teams, sponsoring

and Scarlets, while

had their home stadium of Cardiff Arms Park renamed under a deal with the group, which saw it referred to officially as 'BT Sport Cardiff Arms Park'. Cardiff Blues entered the season under new leadership, with Mark Hammett coming in as director of rugby. Dale McIntosh and Paul John stay on as coaches under him. Hammett joined from New Zealand

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...

franchise, the Hurricanes. The Blues were without Leigh Halfpenny, whose departure to Toulon was announced in January 2014. captain

Sam Warburton Sam Kennedy-Warburton, OBE MStJ (born 5 October 1988), commonly known as Sam Warburton, is a Welsh former international rugby union player. Warburton played rugby for Cardiff Rugby and was first capped for Wales in 2009. He usually played as ...

continued playing with the side as the first centrally contracted player in Wales, having signed a deal with the

Welsh Rugby Union The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU; cy, Undeb Rygbi Cymru) is the Sports governing body, governing body of rugby union in the country of Wales, recognised by the sport's international governing body, World Rugby. The WRU is responsible for the running ...

in January 2014. It was also announced that, following his recovery from testicular cancer, Matthew Rees would continue to serve as the team's captain. Newport Gwent Dragons entered the season with a new captain. Former Lions player Lee Byrne took over from

Andrew Coombs Andrew Coombs is a former Wales international rugby union player. His position is back-row forward or lock forward. Career Coombs attended Ysgol Gyfun Rhydywaun, and is a fluent Welsh speaker. He played for Newport Youth and Pontypool RFC befo ...

on his return from

Clermont Auvergne Association Sportive Montferrandaise Clermont Auvergne () is a French rugby union club from Clermont-Ferrand in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes that currently competes in Top 14, the top level of the French league system. Clermont are two times French ...

and the Top 14. He previously played for rival regions Scarlets and Ospreys. Like most regions, Ospreys entered the season having lost experienced international players. Ian Evans and Richard Hibbard were among the players to have departed, with the pair joining Bristol and Gloucester respectively. The team also lost experienced player Adam Jones. Jones, who had played in every season for the region since its foundation, stayed within Welsh rugby with a move to Cardiff Blues. Scarlets entered the season with a new head coach, following Simon Easterby's exit. Easterby left the side to become forwards coach to , working under Joe Schmidt. His replacement was Wayne Pivac, with Pivac joining the region from

ITM Cup ITM may stand for: Education * ITM Global School, an English medium co-educational day school in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, India * ITM Law School, one of the professional graduate schools of ITM University * ITM-IFM, Mumbai, India * Institut Tekn ...

side Auckland. Scarlets were also without the services of one of the previous season's joint captains Jonathan Davies, who departed to join French side

. The side was captained by Welsh international Ken Owens, with Scott Williams serving as his deputy in the role.

Preseason friendlies

Teams

Table

Fixtures

All times are local.

Round 1

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Round 2

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Round 3

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Round 4

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Round 5

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Round 6

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Round 7

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Round 8

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Round 9

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Round 10

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Round 11

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1872 Cup 1st round

Round 12

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1872 Cup 2nd round

Round 13

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Round 14

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Round 15

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Round 16

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Round 17

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Round 18

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Round 19

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Round 20

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Judgement Day

---- Notes: * The 52,762 crowd for the 2 matches, was a Judgment Day and Pro 12 match record.

Round 21

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Round 22

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Play-offs

Semi-finals

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Final

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.

Top points scorers

Top try scorers

End-of-season awards

PRO12 Awards 2014/15 awards: 2014/2015 Dream Team

Notes

References

External links

*
2014–15 Pro12 at ESPN
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pro12 2014-15 2014–15 in Irish rugby union 2014–15 in Italian rugby union 2014–15 in Scottish rugby union 2014–15 in Welsh rugby union