Pro14 Rugby Reveals New Playoff Structure To Decide Last Team To Qualify

Pro14 Rugby announced the fourth-placed teams in both conferences "will meet each other" in a winner-takes-all playoff to decide who is the seventh team to qualify for the Champions Cup, according to the IRISH INDEPENDENT. The fixture will take place on the first weekend of May, and home advantage will be awarded to the team that finishes the regular season with the highest match-points total. This move is "designed to ensure competitive balance" between both conferences in order to award the final Champions Cup qualification place. The first six places from the Pro14 will "automatically be claimed" by the teams that finish in the top three of each conference. The South African teams "remain ineligible to qualify" for European Professional Club Rugby tournaments, so should a South African team finish in either the top three or in fourth place, it will be replaced by the team that finished below it in that conference (IRISH INDEPENDENT, 10/9).