Ulster Rugby v Dragons

After two weeks of European action the Guinness PRO14 springs back to life with a bumper schedule on Friday night, followed by three games from Italy, Ireland and South Africa on Saturday. It has been a lively couple of weekends for our 12 teams who compete in EPCR competitions and eight of them are sitting either first or second in their Pools in both the Champions Cup and Challenge Cup. Of course, since full meritocracy was introduced last season it has increased the importance of every game in the Guinness PRO14, with teams aiming to qualify for the Champions Cup. Already we can see signs that Ospreys and Benetton Rugby will be aiming for a return to Europe’s top table with the Welsh region resurgent under Allen Clarke and the Italians looking to build on a run of home games. Ospreys have been impressive so far and already have three times the number of points heading into Round 7 as they did at this point last season. This weekend they bring their game with Connacht to Bridgend’s Brewery Field, which was once the home of the Celtic Warriors in the early days of the Championship. In the past few seasons we have seen Cardiff Blues, Dragons, the Isuzu Southern Kings and Zebre take home fixtures to new venues which makes such a positive impact on those rugby communities and I hope this game proves just as memorable for all involved. In Treviso, the Conference A clash between third-placed Benetton and leaders Leinster will be a key game for Kieran Crowley’s men. It is the second of three straight home fixtures before their tour to South Africa and back-to-back derbies with Zebre. If they continue to perform like they have been it will be very interesting to see where they stand early in the new year. As always, this weekend’s Guinness PRO14 cards combines local and international flavours as Cardiff Blues and Scarlets tour South Africa this weekend to face the Toyota Cheetahs and Isuzu Southern Kings, respectively, Zebre host Edinburgh in Parma while the Dragons travel to Belfast to take on Ulster. But it is the Munster v Glasgow Warriors game in Limerick that will make a note in the history books. These former title winners will meet at Thomond Park in the 2000th fixture to be played in the Championship since it kicked off way back in 2001 and it’s quite fitting that it should take place at one of our most iconic venues among two of our top teams. Don’t forget that after today’s game you can keep up with the storylines written by these players and their teams by switching on or logging into our network of broadcast partners – Premier Sports, eir sport, Super Sport, TG4, S4C or DAZN – where live matches and highlights are always on offer. Naturally, everyone is fighting to reach the Guinness PRO14 Final at Celtic Park which will mark another historic chapter for our Championship as the showpiece game is played at a non-rugby stadium for the first time. To get access to the best offers check our official accounts on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter or just visit bit.ly/glasgow2019 to get your tickets. Enjoy the game, Martin Anayi Chief Executive Officer