The 2016–17 Pro12 (also known as the ''Guinness Pro12'' for sponsorship reasons) was the sixteenth season of the professional

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

competition originally known as the

Celtic League The Celtic League is a pan-Celtic organisation, founded in 1961, that aims to promote modern Celtic identity and culture in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany, Cornwall and the Isle of Man – referred to as the Celtic nations; it places part ...

, and the seventh with a four-country format. It was the third season to be referred to as the '' Guinness Pro12''. The twelve competing teams were the four Irish teams:

Connacht Connacht ( ; ga, Connachta or ), is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms ( Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, Conmhaícne, and Del ...

Leinster Leinster ( ; ga, Laighin or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, situated in the southeast and east of Ireland. The province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige. Following the 12th-century Norman invasion of ...

, Munster and

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kin ...

; two Italian teams:

Treviso Treviso ( , ; vec, Trevixo) is a city and '' comune'' in the Veneto region of northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 84,669 inhabitants (as of September 2017). Some 3,000 live within the Ven ...

and Zebre; two Scottish teams:

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

and

Glasgow Warriors Glasgow Warriors are a professional rugby union side from Scotland. The team plays in the United Rugby Championship league and in the European Professional Club Rugby tournaments. In the 2014–15 season they won the Pro12 title and became t ...

and four Welsh teams: Cardiff Blues, Newport Gwent Dragons, Ospreys and

Scarlets The Scarlets () are one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams and are based in Llanelli, Wales. Their home ground is the Parc y Scarlets stadium. They play in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup (which ...

. The first stage involved the 12 teams playing home and away in a league format with the top four sides qualifying for the semi-finals. The semi-finals were one-off matches with 1st playing 4th and 2nd playing 3rd, with the higher ranked team receiving home advantage. The winners of the semi-finals proceeded to the Pro 12 final which was played at the

Aviva Stadium Aviva Stadium (also known as Lansdowne Road) is a sports stadium located in Dublin, Ireland, with a capacity for 51,700 spectators (all seated). It is built on the site of the former Lansdowne Road Stadium, which was demolished in 2007, and ...

on 27 May 2017. The final was contested by

and Munster with Scarlets winning 46-22.

Teams

Changes for the season

Ireland

Reigning champions

started the season with a new coaching team. Backs and kicking coach Andre Bell left his role to return to his family in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. Head performance analyst and assistant attack coach

Conor McPhillips Conor McPhillips (Irish name: ''Conchobhar MacPhilib'' ; born 9 February 1981) is a former rugby union player from Ireland, who currently works as an assistant coach for English Premiership side Bristol Bears. McPhillips spent his professional p ...

took over coaching of the backs, while the team's former head coach

Eric Elwood Eric Elwood is a former Irish rugby union player from Galway. He played as a fly-half. He played for Ireland internationally, and provincially for Connacht. He split his club career between hometown club Galwegians and Lansdowne in Dublin, st ...

took over as kicking coach. The close season also saw the departure of the side's all-time record try-scorer

Fionn Carr Fionn Carr (born 17 December 1985) is an Irish rugby union player. He plays primarily as a wing but can also play at fullback. Carr played most of his professional career for Irish province Connacht in the Pro12. He also played for another Ir ...

, who scored 42 tries over two spells with the province. Connacht's homeground, the Galway Sportsground underwent renovations during the summer, with the addition of a seated stand increasing its capacity to 8,100. Beaten finalists

also saw changes to their backroom staff, with defence coach Kurt McQuilkin leaving the role for personal reasons in August 2016. Former head coach Stuart Lancaster joined the province in the role of "senior coach" the following month as McQuilkin's replacement. Leinster also hired World Cup winning former head coach Graham Henry as a consultant coach during the off-season. After taking over the captaincy when

Kevin McLaughlin Kevin McLaughlin (born 20 September 1984) is a retired professional rugby union player from Ireland. He attended the primary school Kildare Place National School and was educated at secondary level at Gonzaga College. He played provincial rug ...

was forced to retire, Isa Nacewa was appointed as team captain on a permanent basis ahead of the season opener. After finishing sixth in the previous season, Munster replaced much of their coaching staff. Johan "Rassie" Erasmus joined as Director of Rugby from his role as high performance manager with , while Jacques Nienaber is the new defence coach. Head coach Anthony Foley remained part of the coaching team, with a focus on lineouts and the breakdown. Jerry Flannery was also retained in his role as scrum coach, while

Felix Jones Felix Jones Jr. (born May 8, 1987) is a former American football running back in the National Football League (NFL) for the Dallas Cowboys and Pittsburgh Steelers. He played college football at the University of Arkansas and was drafted by t ...

, who was forced to retire due to injury the previous season, joined the backroom team as a technical coach with a focus on attack. After CJ Stander deputised as captain for the previous season, Munster announced ahead of the season that Peter O'Mahony would reassume the role when he returned from injury. On 16 October 2016, Anthony Foley died suddenly in the Munster team hotel in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

while on an away trip to play

Racing 92 Racing 92 () is a French rugby union club based in suburban Paris that was formed in 2001 with the collaboration of the Racing Club de France and US Métro. They were called Racing Métro 92 between 2001 and 2015, when they changed the name ...

in the European Champions Cup.

announced in August 2016 that

Rory Best Rory David Best (born 15 August 1982) is an Irish former rugby union player from Northern Ireland and was the captain of the Ireland national team from 2016 to 2019. He played hooker for Ulster and was registered for Banbridge RFC, having pr ...

would vacate the captaincy of the province. The captain was replaced in his role by

Andrew Trimble Andrew Trimble (born 20 October 1984) is a former Irish rugby union player who played for Ulster and represented Ireland at international level. Club career He attended Coleraine Academical Institution, where he competed in the Ulster Schoo ...

, the team's record try-scorer, and Rob Herring, who took on the role in Best's absence the previous season.

Italy

After sacking head coach Umberto Casellato during the course of the previous season, Benetton Treviso hired former head coach Kieran Crowley as his replacement. Marius Goosen, who served as coach following Casellato's dismissal, stayed with the side as Director of Rugby, the role he held before replacing Casellato. After finishing ahead of Treviso in the previous season, Zebre played in top level European competition for the first time since the tournament format was changed at the end of the 2013–14 season. Zebre had the highest amount of changes to their squad in the competition with a total of 29 players either joining or departing the first team.

Scotland

After discussions of a possible move from

Murrayfield Murrayfield is an affluent area to the west of Edinburgh city centre in Scotland. It is to the east of Corstorphine and north of Balgreen and Roseburn. The A8 road runs east–west through the south of the area. Murrayfield is often con ...

Easter Road Easter Road is a association football, football stadium located in the Leith area of Edinburgh, Scotland, which is the home ground of Scottish Premiership club Hibernian F.C., Hibernian (Hibs). The stadium currently has an all-seated capacity ...

in 2015 did not come to fruition, it was announced in May 2016 that

had agreed a partnership with George Watson's College and would play their home fixtures at the school's 6,000 capacity Myreside venue in the second half of the season. It was also announced that the team would have the option of returning to Murrayfield for larger games. Edinburgh had previously used the ground as a home in its early years as a professional side and had played a home match there as recently as the

2015 Six Nations Championship The 2015 Six Nations Championship, known as the 2015 RBS 6 Nations because of the tournament's sponsorship by the Royal Bank of Scotland, was the 16th series of the Six Nations Championship, the annual rugby union tournament. It was contested b ...

. The off-season saw the loss of team captain

Mike Coman Mike may refer to: Animals * Mike (cat), cat and guardian of the British Museum * Mike the Headless Chicken, chicken that lived for 18 months after his head had been cut off * Mike (chimpanzee), a chimpanzee featured in several books and document ...

, who left to join London Irish. With his departure,

Grant Gilchrist Grant Gilchrist (born 9 August 1990) is a Scottish rugby union player who plays at Rugby union positions#Locks, lock for Edinburgh Rugby in the United Rugby Championship. Background Gilchrist was schooled at Lornshill Academy, and played with ...

and Stuart McInally took on the role in a joint capacity. On 28 September 2016, just four games into the season, Alan Solomons resigned as the team's head coach. The departure saw assistant coach Duncan Hodge promoted to acting head coach. It was announced in October 2016 that this would be

Gregor Townsend Gregor Peter John Townsend, (born 26 April 1973) is a Scottish rugby union coach and former player. He is currently the head coach of the Scotland national team having previously been an assistant coach from 2009 to 2012. As a player, he won ...

's last year in charge of

as he would depart at the end of the season to take up the role of head coach. After serving as the team's sole captain in 2015–16,

Jonny Gray Jonathan Douglas Gray (born 14 March 1994) is a Scotland international rugby union player. He plays at lock for Exeter Chiefs in Premiership Rugby. Rugby union career Amateur career Gray started playing rugby at Cambuslang RFC where he pro ...

shared the role with Henry Pyrgos for the season. Following issues with the playing surface at the team's home stadium, Scotstoun, an artificial playing surface was installed at the ground.

Wales

This was the Welsh Regions' first full domestic season under a revised arrangement with the WRU. Cardiff Blues head coach Danny Wilson made seven signings for next season with Kirby Myhill, George Earle and Steven Shingler joining from the

, Rhys Gill from Saracens, Nick Williams from

, Matthew Morgan from

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

and Willis Halaholo from the

Hurricanes A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...

. Newport Gwent Dragons parted company with director of rugby Lyn Jones and began the season with his long-time assistant Kingsley Jones promoted to head coach. Wales international Taulupe Faletau left the Dragons for Bath Rugby in the off-season. The season ended with Newport shareholders voting to pass ownership of the Dragons and the Rodney Parade ground to the WRU. The Ospreys added Bradley Davies, Hugh Gustafson and former

forwards Rhodri Jones and Rob McCusker to their playing staff. Meanwhile Brad Davis joined the coaching group under Steve Tandy.

entered their third season under head coach

Wayne Pivac Wayne Pivac (born 1962) is a New Zealand rugby union coach. In November 2019 he replaced Warren Gatland as the Wales national team coach. A former sworn officer in the New Zealand Police, he was a constable at the Takapuna police station on A ...

. The off-season saw the return of former player Jonathan Davies following a spell at Clermont Auvergne. Other new signings included Rhys Patchell,

Werner Kruger Werner Kruger (born 23 January 1985 in Kempton Park, South Africa) is a former rugby union player who played at prop. He ended his career playing for Scarlets in the Pro14, having spent the bulk of his career at Super Rugby side the , where he ...

and Jonathan Evans, while New Zealander Johnny McNicholl arrived later in the season.

Table

Match summary

Teams play each other twice, once at home and once away.

Rounds 1 to 22

All times are local.

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

After 40 minutes of play, the match was "abandoned due to adverse weather conditions causing considerable risk to both the players and spectators". Zebre were leading 22–10 (3 tries to 1) when the match was abandoned. The game was rescheduled for 1 April 2017.

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Round 7

Round 8

Round 9

Postponed prior to kickoff due to frozen pitch. Game rescheduled on 11 March 2017.

Round 10

Round 11

1872 Cup 1st round

Round 12

Round 13

Round 14

Round 15

Round 16

Round 17

Round 9 rescheduled match

*Game rescheduled from 25 November 2016.

Round 18

Round 3 rescheduled match

*Game rescheduled from 17 September 2016.

Round 19

Round 20

Judgement Day

Round 21

Round 22

1872 Cup 2nd round

Play-offs

Semi-finals

The top four teams at the end of the league rounds meet in the semi-finals in a 1st v 4th and 2nd v 3rd format with the 1st and 2nd teams playing at home.

Final

Attendances

By club

*Includes semi-finals but not final at Aviva Stadium. Updated 21 May 2017.

End-of-season awards

Pro12 Dream Team

Award winners

Leading scorers

Note: Flags to the left of player names indicate national team as has been defined under

World Rugby World Rugby is the world governing body for the sport of rugby union. World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport's most recognised and most profitable competition. It also organises a number of other international rug ...

eligibility rules, or primary nationality for players who have not yet earned international senior caps. Players may hold one or more non-WR nationalities. Correct as of 8 May 2017.

Top points scorers

Top try scorers

Top try assists scorers

Notes

References

External links

*
2016–17 Pro12 at ESPN
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pro12

2016-17 16-17 is a band from Basel, Switzerland. Their music combines punk rock, hardcore punk, jazz and industrial music. Biography 16-17 was founded in 1983 by Alex Buess, Knut Remond and Markus Kneubühler. When the group played its first con ...

2016–17 in Irish rugby union 2016–17 in Italian rugby union 2016–17 in Scottish rugby union 2016–17 in Welsh rugby union